Maraudering Matters
by whysosiriusumbridge
Summary: Harry had not expected Maraudering Matters to actually matter that much. It was just an experiment to try to get his life back in line after his past, after the decisions he had made - now all he was left with was pictures and memories and no pensieve - 'And the coffeehouse. Don't forget the goddamn coffeehouse.'
1. Maraudering Matters

**Chapter 1: How It Started to Matter**

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 _ **Music Recommendation: Paranoid by Black Sabbath**_

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Harry had never liked Justin Finch-Fletchley much since his second year. They had not even spoken much in later years, but two months after the War had ended, they had met at that memorable gala. The one with 'Hey, they're giving us Order of Merlins!' and 'Hey, is that Malfoy and Granger?!' and 'Hey, one of our classmates came out of hiding!'. The classmate had of course, been Justin.

Harry had almost accidentaly ran into Justin that day – he was trying to escape Skeeter if he remembered correctly – and Justin had talked to him like they had been best friends before the War. As much as Harry had grown to hate that kind of behaviour, Justin's was a pleasant distraction because of the circumstance.

That conversation was why he remembered that Justin's father lived in California and was a police officer, and that was where Justin and his mother had gone for hiding. His parents had decided to live together again so he was going to spend some time in America itself, leaving the Wizarding World behind after that last gala.

So when the time came to finally make his move – after all the lies were told and the false trails were laid – Harry had contacted Justin at once. He was, after all, the only person he actually knew well who lived in the States. There were others but they were rather… _supernatural_ in nature, so he had avoided disturbing them.

Justin's family was welcoming, and not only that, they were co-operative as well. They never mentioned to anyone that he was living with them, for the two months that he did, trying to figure out his life after the big move.

Justin's grandfather had been a respected soldier during the World War ll – part of a group called 'The Howling Commandos'. They had apparently been very active in the War and operated under Steve Rodgers or Cap, as Justin and his father called him. Harry to search about 'Cap' later on, only to find that it was none other than Captain America – the super soldier. James Falsworth was an esteemed part of the Captain's team and it was one of the reasons why Justin's family had a small amount of military funding.

His father Admon Falsworth, or Flinch, as everyone called him, was a very calm and collected man, though he had the air of a man too tired for his years. Sometimes, Harry felt like there was more to the man than meets the eye, but his doubts were glossed over due to the man's gentle nature. He worked quite diligently, never missing a day and always leaving and reaching home on time.

Mrs. Falsworth was also a generous host to him, if a bit arrogant at times. Most of the times, she almost forgot he was _Harry Potter_ , and sang praises of how her son would soon get quite high up in the American Ministry if he kept working hard. The fact that she forgot about him while praising her son was more endearing than irritating, and it bothered him greatly that there was a lump in his throat every time that happened - it reminded him of Mrs. Weasley in fifth year – calling him her son.

He was still unsure about his decision to leave – half his stuff was still unpacked, even when he moved two months later. He had only opened trunks he needed to use daily – clothes, broom and books. Every other belonging and bag he had packed half of Grimmauld Place in, was sitting unused and unopened, taunting him about his decision.

There were nights that he lay awake – thinking what they would be doing now? How soon would they realise the trail was fake and what was actually going on? Ron and Hermione already knew, and so did Kingsley, to an extent – would they have told the others? He hadn't even said a proper goodbye. Mrs. Weasley would hate him, but Ginny - Ginny would _kill_ him. Even so, that he could handle - it was Hermione to whom he had said unthinkable things. In the the end though - he always soothed himself with the thought that it would probably be best if she hated him.

He stayed with the Falsworths for two months – exploring California, looking for a job in the muggle world. He grew close to Justin during that period, along with his father. They were good people and he was sorry to say goodbye to the family when he finally decided to move out. After two months of researching and basically realising that he was worth nothing in the muggle world without a valid degree or knowledge, Harry decided to do the only thing he knew best about the muggle culture – cook.

Kingsley was probably tracking his bank transactions so he would find out pretty soon that he had bought two properties – one in a marketplace just outside Santa Monica and the other in a secluded place off the Coast highway. The house he had bought was somewhat old and rotting, surrounded by a garden on all four sides. Harry had a hunch that the house was magical - at least the various plants in the back garden indicated so. He spent a month in the old house he had bought – setting up things, finally unpacking everything. By the time he was done, the house looked pretty thoroughly Potter – like he had been living there the whole time.

The living room was decorated with pictures he had brought from home. The fireplace had a huge photograph of the Weasley family over it – the one from Egypt, the one with Pettigrew. But Harry didn't care – Fred was in it. On top of the fireplace were pictures of everyone from that one gala where everyone wanted to look their best to receive their Orders of Merlin. It was the only time he remembered Luna dressing like a normal person. There were pictures of everyone separated – Harry and Ron, Harry and Hermione, Hermione and Ginny, Harry and Ginny, Ginny, Ron and Hermione, George, Harry and Ron with Mrs. Weasely, etc. There were about fifty of these and the whole living room walls were covered with them from top to bottom.

The sofas were a plush Gryffindor red, the carpet a pretty bronze. He didn't care if his interior decoration hurt others' eyes – he wanted the house to look as much like his old home, or Hogwarts, as possible. The table placed in the centre was an ancient one, but it held a compartment for books and coasters underneath it – so Harry liked it quite very much. There were two sets of sofas on each side of the long table, along with armchairs, mismatched cushions and beanbags thrust in between them. One side ended with the fireplace and the other with a huge LED and speakers. TV had been one of the muggle things Harry was still very fond of.

Harry had to install thin wooden separators so that the kitchen was hidden from view of the living room, in case he ever had a guest. The kitchen was almost the same size as the living room, so he had to move the Wine Cellar next to a window just next to the entrance, to make space for his experiments. For a month Harry practised with various foods, baked goods and drinks mostly, to see how he could merge magical ingredients into muggle ones and create new recipes and food products. The kitchen got burned down twice, the oven blew up five times within two months and in the end, Harry had to cast several wards around the kitchen itself to protect the rest of the house. There was a cupboard in the kitchen, running from ceiling to floor, that held all his experiments with food and everything that he had discovered. It had a few strong charms on it that would prevent it from harm in every possible scenario, he was proud of it.

A door to the right of the kitchen led to a rather small guest room, attached with a glorious bath – one that Harry sometimes preferred to use instead of his personal one. The bathroom was designed like a forest – he didn't know where the owner had gotten that idea but it made the place look like heaven. The bath tub was surrounded by plants and a mirror on one wall, one that gave the room an amazing structure. The dressing room attached to it held all of Harry's old clothes – robes, dress robes, school robes, quidditch robes, quidditch gear, and even his new Firebolt 2000.

The cupboard in the kitchen covered a small door that lead to the basement – it had been a gym but Harry had converted it into a defence practice room. Everything important that was useful to him during the War was stored there. The basement was also sealed with all the protection spells Harry could think of because the material inside it requisitioned such care - there were the books on Hocruxes, the two Hocruxes, even the replica of the Sword of Gryffindor Malfoy had later provided him with. All other sentimental artifacts he had relating to the war there too – the Marauders' Map, Sirius' mirror's shard, along with the other mirror Aberforth had later given to him, seeing no use in keeping it – even his beloved old Firebolt, which he had recovered from Dudley two years after the War. Sirius' bike lay there unused as well (even though it was repaired and working, thanks to Mr. Weasley) and the only thing Harry kept on him was the Invisiblity Cloak.

It was upstairs in his bedroom, which could be accessed from the spiral staircase that stood next to the entrance to the left. Just because he could, only and _only_ because he could – Harry had a slide to come down from. Because he _could_.

The bedroom covered the complete upper floor – it was mostly empty – except for the half library that formed the other half of the floor. Harry had knowingly packed half the Black and Potter Library with him, simply so that Hermione couldn't research on _that_ topic. His bedroom was a pseudo library for all of those books, and the bathroom and closet covered rest of the half. The bed was a pretty large one – thrust up next to the window, with two armchairs and a desk on the other side of it. The floor was always strewn with papers, books, quills, clothes and even some wayward potion ingredients. He could hardly see the green carpet that was supposed to be there. The rest of his potions equipment was stored in the kitchen, and he had already brewed some, in case of emergency, and stored them in the basement.

The walls of the bedroom were covered with pictures from his Hogwarts years, from the summer holidays to the snows in Hogsmeade, and to every picture in Hagrid's album, which he had soon made multiple copies of. There was even a picture of the Dursleys there somewhere near the bottom, and also the one with the old Order of The Pheonix.

The setting up of his shop took less time than he had anticipated - but it had turned out perfect. The walls were painted a happy purple, with pictures of many of his desserts and biscuits and shakes he had taken himself, decorated on the walls. The counter was up on one side of the wall and a narrow hallway led to to storage rooms. A rickety staircase led to his small office upstairs - a small room which he used to keep the paperwork. There was a spacious bathroom attached upstairs, and since Harry had always hated public restrooms - hell, he had hated public places - so he had tried to make his place look the best and homeliest he were mostly beanbags and armchairs around settees with a large number of cushions all over the place. There were only five tables in the place, for those who wanted to work, however, there were no proper chairs.

It was comparatively quite small, but it was also on the busiest roads of California, one that ran to the outskirts of LA so he expected his business to flourish well. As a matter of fact, his house was on the same highway so it was a pretty good spot to work at. He had to spend the second month doing job interviews and looking for potential candidates to work in his little setup. He finally hired a pretty brunette called Caramel Hardon, as his second in command – which was code for the fact that she would look at accounts and everything managerial for him, while he cooked his way through the restaurant. He had high demands in the moral section for whoever worked for him - no matter the qualification. But the rest of the staff turned out to be pretty easy to get a hold of with Caramel's help – she reminded him of Hermione with that trait. Sometimes it scared him how similar their bossy tone of voice was, so he decided to maintain his distance. He couldn't afford to have a normal relationship with any of them anyway.

As the second month of his preparations came to a close, the tenth month of the year 2007 in general, his anticipation grew. This cafe idea was completely a shot in the dark. It didn't matter that he could survive seven generations' worth with the money he currently owned – eventually, seven generations would pass and he would need to earn more.

Sooner than he wanted, the first of November arrived, his first day of business. Time to open The Maraudering Matters. (It was Caramel's idea… partly.)

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 **Yep, I know it's an overused theme but... is no one curious why Harry started over? Or more importantly what exactly did he do at home?**

 **I promise that this will be different, and will actually go more than three chapter ahead as I have it all planned already. Chapters will be longer than this though. Much longer. And definitely much more dialogue. Sorry about the lack of that.**

 **So, review please? What's the opening verdict?**


	2. It's A Mess Of A Day

**Chapter 2: It's A Mess Of A Day**

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 _ **Music Recommendation: Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana**_

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"Double, double, toil and trouble, Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Double, double, toil and trouble, Something wicked this way comes!"

Harry's eye twitched from beneath the thin sheet as he made out the loud and unneccesarily shrill tune of his alarm go off from somewhere around the room. He had just cracked open an eye to the slight brightness in the room, when the obnoxious song burst through his head again, almost tearing apart his eardrums, and making him squeeze his eyes shut.

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing."

As soon as the singing stopped, Harry groaned through his post sleep haze and scrambled off the bed haphazardly, trying to find the migraine inducing alarm clock before the singing could start again. Since he was still squinting through the room, with feet tangled in the sheets, it was not long before he flailed to the ground, hitting his chin on the floorboard, as the song burst next to his right ear suddenly.

"Double, double, toil and trouble, Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Double, double, toil and trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bubble!"

The singing was so loud and sudden that Harry had jerked away from the noise quickly, only to hit his head on the side of the armchair. It was with loud swears of Merlin's bollocks that he shut the unbreakable alarm clock that Colin had gifted him on his 19th birthday. Rubbing his head with one hand and eyes with the other, and after throwing the alarm carelessly towards the direction of the chair, Harry untangled his feet and made his way to the bathroom.

After brushing sleepily while 'Double Trouble' continued in the background, (since the alarm was bewitched to sing slowly and in a respectable voice once a slew of swear words had been said), Harry proceeded to undress for his shower.

"Yer scar's particularly red t'day kid. You be needin' makeup fer that. Like the poof ye'r." The mirror said nastily, but Harry ignored it like everyday, checking the scar for good measure. It was rather red and when Harry touched it, he realised it was aching and there was a small bump under it. "What the.." Harry pushed off the bangs and observed uneasily as the yellowish light of the bulb reflected off the swollen egg type thing on his forehead. That's when he realised - he had hit his head on the armchair. Relief washed over him, but he still couldn't shake the feeling of something being wrong - the feeling that was a reflex from whenever his scar had hurt in the past.

Slightly flattening the hair as he watched himself, and ignoring the mirror sniggering at his attempts, he decided that he would have to avoid the comb for today and just make sure the scar was covered. Even if it was at the cost of having a bird's nest for hair for the whole day.

* * *

Harry sang at the top of his voice, completely off tune, as the alarm sang with him, balanced precariously over some potatoes. He lazily waved his wand towards the kettle, which started gurgling lowly, then placed it back in his jeans pocket. He had always preffered to do his cooking magic free - as it was one of the things that helped him relate to the non-magical lifestyle.

Sucking some custard off his thumb, Harry turned towards the TV, where a reporter was relating the morning's broadcast. "Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, who is under investigation for allegedly accepting a bribe in the early 1990s when he was finance minister, yesterday said that he will step down in May. Ahern..." Well, that was nothing interesting.

Harry flicked through the TV for another half an hour or so - TV was still his main source for all news and he had to make sure he didn't miss anything important. While other people these days had started using mobile phones for news and basically all other activities, Harry couldn't do so. He cast a forlorn look towards his phone - the one that had survived all these years, strangely, was the one Seamus had given him - it was lying silent and innocent on the table.

Harry attributed the survival of this phone mostly to the fact that he treated it with utmost care - he had voice command active for everything so he didn't have to go near it much. The ringtone was so ridiculously loud that his whole staff always heard it, and also hated it. While sleeping, he left it in the bathroom, so that it would be protected from any accidental residual magic because of his nightmares. The main reason he took extra care of it was also that now he knew that he had no one else to request a new phone from, that would work well with his magical tuning. Hell, that would work with his magic at all.

* * *

His ringtone vibrated from somewhere behind him, as Harry hardly heard anything beside the screeching lyrics. He was driving down the highway on Sirius' bike at a breakneck speed, and since he was late, he did not dare to slow down or stop to check who was calling him. It was probably Caramel, wondering if he had left, or to order him to bring some ingredient or the other from the house.

He chose to avoid the call and sing along the Wierd Sisters' song - Can You Dance like a Hyppogriff, a band who peculiarly consisted of guys. If Caramel wanted him to bring something, he would happily make a trip back - he loved riding the motorcycle. The only thing he would ever ride, apparently, according to Clark, one of his older employees, if he kept avoiding all females like the plague. The college boy had often invited over lots of his friends to meet him, and Harry had only realized that they were a joint effort to set him up when Caramel had lost it one day and started laughing hysterically in his face. He had just commented that Robbie was a nice chap, who would maybe agree to teach him a thing or two about properly riding a bike.

Jon, Caramel's cousin, also worked for him, hated ogres, as he had had an unfortunate incident with a rather ugly shaped stone that his brother had convinced him was Shrek turned to stone. He was told that whoever touched it would turn green and ugly, and when his brother had thrown the stone at him, poor Jon had spent a whole day crying, thinking that he had turned into an ogre. Jon was only sixteen now, and he was a dab hand at muffins - it was almost like he had magic. Even though he had good reason to hate Shrek, everyone loved to tease him about it, as he was the youngest of them all.

By the time Harry reached MMs, the tune was unfortunately drilled into his brain, and he was humming it when he entered the cafe at 7:30.

"WHERE THE _HELL_ HAVE YOU BEEN?" Caramel shouted from somewhere under the counter, as one of the guys, Jade, caught Harry's keys and jacket and ran to hang them upstairs in his small office.

"Stop with tune Specko. It's a bad day." Clark whispered, throwing him a look as he wiped down the tables and dusted the furniture. He was setting the furniture in a new way again today, trying as usual to make as much space to move around as possible.

"I'm on time, what the hell is wrong now?" Harry said, annoyed, as he came to halt at the counter. Caramel emerged from underneath, red in the face and blonde hair flying every which way. She looked particularly dangerous as she frowned heavily at him.

"Are you _kidding_ me? Where was your phone? Don't you know how to pick it?" She all but shouted in his face, her brown eyes panicking slightly.

It took a moment for the anger to flare, but it had been on the edge ever since morning, when he had hit his head on the chair.

"Are you going to TELL ME-?"

"Okay okay, hey there," Jade rushed over, almost flying off the small staircase in a hurry to reach them, "The cash register isn't working. We've tried everything but there's only 15 minutes left so you gotta make some decisions and you gotta be quick about it. People are already lining up."

As he said it, Harry snuck a glance outside and Jade was right, as always, that people were ready for their morning coffees. He need to think, and fast.

"Okay, tell me one of you idiots actually learnt something at school and are quick at math!" Harry exclaimed to the other four, because he knew he himself was shit at it. They exchanged equally blank looks, and Jon didn't even bother looking up from cleaning the espresso machine.

"You _sodding little-_ why did I even hire you?!" Harry exclaimed to himself - what the bloody hell was he going to do now? There was no time to buy a new entry system, a repair shop was at least half an hour away, and he could't afford even one less hand - opening was the busiest time! Less staff holidays was one reasons he had only hired people who appreciated coffee and the smell of baking and a good working enviornment - _why_ had he not considered Maths?! What in _Merlin's_ name was wrong with him?!

Times like these were when he missed Hermione the most, wait - _what would she do?_

Compartmentalize.

"Okay, I got an idea." Harry began, looking at all four - though Jon wasn't even bothered, "Umm since Clark is in University, he'll suffer as the cashier. I'll take over his tables for today. Jade - you, Caramel and Jon will be the same."

Yeah, that sounded good - Jon was no good at anything else really and Caramel was best, after him, at the cooking. She could safely handle the counter alone today. Hopefully. Now only if he could make sure he didn't screw up the orders -

"And while we start, Jade, clear up some space in the storage and bring down both the chairs from my office." Harry sighed, continuing to talk over Clark's howling protests, "It's going to be a long day."

* * *

"Chaos. This is _fucking_ chaos." Harry muttered to himself, almost sobbing as his pinkie toe hit an armchair on the way to the order counter.

"IS THIS PAYBACK? I SWEAR BY THE LORD I WILL NOT SET YOU UP EVER AGAIN! SWEET JESUS SPARE ME!"

"You ordered a cappucino with NO ICE CREAM, _Miss_!"

" _Oh my god._ My fingers are numb what the fuck!"

"Shit! Stay _away_ from the oven Caramel! That's my area!"

" _Don't_ put that table by the wall, it's for FOUR JADE WHAT THE-"

 _"SHUT UP GUYS! SHUT UP! SHUT YOUR SODDING MOUTHS!"_

There was a huge _crack_ and silence, then the sound of glass crunching. When Harry opened his eyes hesitantly, every single person in the room was staring at him, probably wondering how in all of Merlin's bloody boxers he had managed to pull that off. When he realized what the crack had been for, he understood - had just caused accidental magic - blasted the mirror and probably temporarily silenced everone. _Well, what a fuck up._

"Okay, Jade, just get her an added ice cream, it was probably my mistake. No need to charge her for anything."

"Clark, yes this is totally payback, but you can change your shift with Caramel. Caramel, you can go to the storage once I'm done with taking these orders. Jon, hang up the closed sign, we need a goddamn _break_."

"Everyone else, guys, we've had a malfunction this morning, so your co-operation will be very much appreciated. If you find yourself incapable for waiting a bit for your order, please feel free to leave - I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks."

"Also Jade, put the bloody table back."

* * *

It took them an hour, but the crowd soon turned manageable. A few customers had left, but Harry didn't care, as long as it meant that this disaster of a day ended quicker. His patience was running thinner than ever today, all he wanted to do was close shop and go back home to his fireplace and watch some mindless show the whole night. Everyone else could go hang for all he cared today - the day had started bad and went downhill from there. The ache behind his scar had expanded to his whole head and there were bongo drums playing inside.

Even though the closed sign was still up, a few of their choice customers, who knew Harry or were friends with the staff because of regularity, came in to get a coffee and even waited patiently, chatting away with everyone on occassion. While it was a relief to see the unhurried regulars, they also had to send away a few people who had ambled in anyway.

Around afternoon, near lunch time, when the throngs threatened to build up again, Caramel took the liberty to put on some music. She had started with soft melodies, which Jon had changed to metal, and which Clark had turned to Hip-hop just a few moments ago.

The four were grumbling amongst themselves again. In order to avoid a fight, he had to send Caramel away and sit at the cash counter himself. It was a relief to sit down again, but his head was still aching horribly. If this went on, they would have to stay closed for the whole day.

That was when two men walked in, again. Was the clear-cut _CLOSED_ sign not visible to these dumb fucks?

The shorter of the two men, and younger, came strutting in, his walk reminding him of Malfoy on his first day all those years ago. That alone set off alarm bells in his head.

"I'm sorry we're closed, not taking orders, that means. In case you just misunderstood that large sign hanging outside the door." Harry said irritably as soon as the man was near him. He looked older from this close - early thirties would be Harry's guess - and much, much more familiar as he removed his sunglasses.

"Why? Do you sell toilets?" The man asked in a curious voice, raising a smooth eyebrow as he looked Harry over like he was sizing him up.

"Uh - No. Are you blind or something?" Harry said, staring at the man in confusion. Was he taking the mickey? Because he honestly had no patience for those things today. "There's a sign that said this is a cafe outside too - seriously is your vision comprimised? Do you need eye-treatment? I'm afraid we don't provide that service here either-"

"All right listen here you little shit of a tea cup, I'm in need of a bathroom. A toilet to pee in. Do you have one of those here or do you piss in the coffee?"

How the _fuck_ \- What the _hell_ did he mean-

"HOW _DARE_ YOU-"

"Go upstairs, door on the left, don't mind him, we're having a bad day." Jade's voice hardly penetrated Harry's ringing ears as the short _git_ disappeared up the staircase, leaving him fumbling with words in anger.

His comment ringing in his ears, Harry took notice of the second man - the taller, bald man who looked more composed and an apologetic expression. He had the air of a serious businessman, someone who knew how to play all his cards successfully and win. This man, like the shorter sod, also looked familiar.

Harry didn't have much time to think about it, as the man was already extending his hand, all the while looking down his nose at Harry.

Harry got an even worse vibe from this man than the shorter one. At least that one hadn't been diplomatic.

"I'm sorry, Tony's been having a rather bad day at work. Hopefully, you can understand the situation. It was an emergency."

He nodded and withdrew his hand at once, opting to stare at the chaos around the room instead, where they were still shouting orders or some other nonsense at each other. The man's behaviour was making Harry even more irritated - just because he had the looks of a rich businessman didn't mean that he had to deal with their shit without retaliating. The man looked a bit disgusted with the size and decor of the place, and his silent and assumed disapproval, more than anything, dropped the idea in Harry's brain.

He excused himself silently as he made a quick exit to the storage, searching, for that... _Aha_!

Quickly returning to the back of the counter, he poured the vial in a large glass, then set it under the machine. When it filled, he topped it neatly with cream, some sugar, and chocolate syrup. The milk was low fat and almost completely sugar free, so the drink wouldn't cause much damage to the diet.

When it was done, he returned to the counter, where the bald guy was still judging his beloved cafe heavily.

"Sir, this is for your partner. I hope this makes up for any discomfort on our part and lightens his day." Harry said in a flat tone, but with a plastic smile to the tall man. Harry also noticed that the man was actually pretty tall - at least 6 feet. And his face was so familiar... It had something to do with pineapple. But he couldn't remember...

* * *

As soon as Tony was done with his business, he quickly got out of the surprisingly pristine and spacious bathroom and looked around. The room across the door was unlocked and a bit open.

Without thinking, because he never did and didn't need to, Tony pushed open the door, to a small office. The office was smaller than the bathroom? What a freak the owner was.

He could only see one desk, without a chair, and piles of files and papers lying about. All of them looked similar to each other and Tony was sure they were accounts of the place.

Britishers were so weird - who the _fuck_ had an office without chairs? And this specky idiot - he obviously had no idea what the hell he was doing.

He shrugged and padded down the stairs - there was a door to the right of the stairs - and of course he opened it.

There was a woman, probably in her twenties, sipping coffee, sitting on a chair, in a room otherwise full of boxes and a trunk here and there.

"Huh. Weird." Tony muttered, what was this place supposed to be? It was too homely for a coffee house, too informal for a lounge, and the storage was a restroom and the office didn't have chairs? _What a fucking mess._

The only thing good about the place was the music - _Heaven and Hell_ wasn't that bad a choice. It was actually one of his favorite songs.

It was a few moments before he realized that the woman had noticed him, and by the time he did, there was a look of dawning realization on her face that he had come to hate. It symbolized danger for him - a complete invasion of privacy, as it was mostly associated with his fangirls that looked ready to pounce on him him at any point of time and day.

Quickly retracting himself, he shut the door and fumbled for some dollars in his pocket, finally pulling out a twenty. Obi seemed to be in conversation with the weird British too-young-to-own-a-cafe receptionist, but Tony didn't care. He could hear the girl catching up behind him, so he grabbed hold of Obi with one hand, and throwing a look over his shoulder to the staring receptionist, along with the twenty, quickly steered both of them out of the stuffed room.

Only when they were seated safely back in the car, did Obi give him the coffee. And it was only after he had finished drinking the, well, pretty damn _amazing_ coffee, did he notice the words scrawled in small messy cursive on the cup -

 _'Mannerless Fuckwit'_

* * *

 **Ehehehe What d'ya think?**

 **Updated according to some pretty legit mistakes** ** _Roserayrose_** **pointed out. I would say that Harry's acting a bit OOC. His reasons are just not explained yet. Also, my laptop sort of got corrupted and the whole data on it is gone. :| That included the whole outline and plot of this story too. I just hope it comes back to me sooner or later. Hope for the best guys. Maybe review?**


	3. She's Got Two Ears

**Chapter 3: Early 2008**

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 _ **Music Recommendation: Come As You Are By Nirvana**_

* * *

March was always the worst month for Tony. He had to deal with shareholders and their incessant whining over stupid things like annual reports and the like. Even though he had Pepper to deal with these things, Obi made sure he dragged Tony to those nauseatingly boring meetings where everyone sat with a blank expression, a bald head and a stick up their ass.

It was one of the reasons why Tony had left the office as quickly as possible after looking at boring old faces the whole day - not even bothering to take a loo break because someone or the other would run into him and stop him there. So he had to stop on the way back to the mansion - Happy had made sure to stop at a joint that was closed. Tony, however, had not realised that the place was so busy even when it was closed. The kid that didn't look like the owner, but acted like it, looked pretty pissed off when he walked in. But Tony had no time himself to take shit from a British punk, especially one who had just hit his head on God-knows-what to get that huge bump on his forehead with the very specific mark. It was like somebody had tried printing the Flash's symbol on his head.

Anyway, Tony had put the kid out of his mind when they left the small but rad place, until he had read that 'greeting' on the cup. He should have been angry, but surprisingly, he found himself snorting with laughter. Maybe he was finally going insane with all the boredom, but the aggressive action of the _kid_ had him laughing out loud at his nerve. The guy, apparently then, had some serious nerve to pull that bullshit with him, but it amused Tony because to the Brit he was probably just another rich guy. Well, which he was, but that meant the guy had no time for his shit, and he had made sure he told him that in a very clever way. While normally such things were a huge blow for his ego, that day Tony had needed a laugh. So he put the matter out of his mind, but he did, however, love the coffee.

* * *

It was a good, calm April morning. The sun was high in the sky and it was hot, but not sweaty. The glare reflected off his helmet as Harry removed it and hung it on the handle. The cafe was already alive and kicking, the door was hardly staying closed for a minute, as people entered and left. It was fifteen to eight and Harry knew he was late but he also knew that Caramel wouldn't complain today - it was her fault that he had had such a late night yesterday. She had set him up for a blind date with one of her friends, Tessa, and Harry had only agreed to keep the rest of her band (his staff) happy. He had to endure three hours of a red haired woman batting her eyelashes at him and unnecessarily giggling every time he breathed. He, meanwhile, had been comparing her with Ginny in his head all the while, and had to go through two bottles of firewhiskey to get in a sleep able state. He missed her so much, seeing her at the matches was not enough -

 _No_. He wasn't going to do this to himself. There was ready a deep ache in his chest, it was like something had gone missing, leaving behind a painful emptiness.

Walking through the entrance, he rubbed his chest in the center - why did the hollowness hurt so much? Maybe he _should_ stop going to her every match -

"Hey Specko. You staying up or down today?" Clark said, passing him with a tray filled with muffins. Harry watched as he served them to a couple in a business attire, who were chatting away amiably, pointing repeatedly to their newspapers, coffee in one hand and a muffin in the other. He vaguely registered that he had seen them before but turned around and went towards the counter.

"I'm gonna head up in some time. Just take the keys." He called to Clark, as Jon and Caramel skipped over, looking excited.

"So? Any success? Did you score?" Jon asked hopefully, and Harry felt a slight blush creep up despite the fact that he was supposed to be a _grownup_ in those matters now.

"No I didn't. Your friend talks too much." He said to Caramel with a side-smile before settling behind the counter. Jon crept away after making a face, but Caramel frowned at him.

"I thought you had a thing for red heads?" She said, putting her hands on her hips, abandoning the coffee she was making and frowning at him instead.

"That's not true." He said rather quickly, turning away from her as heat crept up his cheeks again. She tutted behind him but said nothing, and Harry's mind went back to Ginny. Maybe he really should stop attending her matches. He almost panicked at the thought itself - who was he kidding? He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he stopped watching her. And watching her - flying especially - it was a delight. Harry's garden was not big enough for him to have a go on his broom, and watching Ginny play Quidditch was probably the only reason he hadn't lost his mind and flown over the city in desperation yet.

"Harry?" He looked up see the another woman who often came to the cafe - Pepper. Another red head, Pepper worked for Tony Stark, who Caramel had later told him was the same sod that had been so rude to him that day. Apparently, Stark liked his coffee, like Harry had made sure he would, and sent his assistant to get more from the same 'small, rad place they had stopped at'.

Pepper was a nice woman, and apparently Stark was not a nice boss - at least he seemed pretty immature from what Harry had gathered from Pepper's rants.

Pepper was one of the only women he felt comfortable talking to - besides Caramel - even though she had the abominable red hair, she reminded him more of Lavender than Ginny. She was very talkative, and social - one of the reasons why he actually knew more than a bit about Tony Stark - and she had a kind heart.

"Hey, morning Pepper!" Harry replied exuberantly, it had been a couple of days since he had seen her. Happy, Stark's driver had come to get all kinds of food for their lazy boss for these last days. Happy liked Harry a lot and always asked the weirdest questions - apparently, because he loved British people. While Happy was fun, and made Harry laugh a lot, it was refreshing to see the woman after long.

"Hi. You looked rather busy there? Deep thinking?" She said, pulling a small settee near his chair (he had no idea how she managed that in heels) and sat on it. She already had a cappuccino, though he didn't remember her ordering it. Or coming inside, for that matter.

"No. Not that deep. How are you though, and where have you been?"

"I've been in London," She said carefully, not taking her eyes off him, "for a conference."

"Oh." Harry replied, his throat suddenly dry, but he resolutely met her gaze, "Do anything interesting?"

"No. Not much anyway. Has he met anyone yet?" She said, turning to Caramel for her question.

"No. It's been two failed dates since you last came, Miss Potts. He finds a new excuse every time. And they're so silly - _'She's got a round nose, she wore death white, I don't like that colour, she's got two ears'_ -"

Caramel was doing a terrible impression of him, complete with the worst fake British accent he had ever heard. Harry was laughing at the bad impression, and Pepper seemed to be in splits too. "That was a terrible accent Caramel!" She laughed, placing her coffee on the floor to take out a cloth from her purse, "Seriously though - I wonder who it's going to be who catches your eye, Harry. She's going to have to be really amazing."

"Or really simple." Harry countered uncomfortably, getting off his seat and grabbing his jacket from behind his chair. This was his cue to leave.

"Ooh!" Caramel exclaimed to herself, "Nancy! She's not as simple as Christine and not as complex as Janet-"

"Oh no. No way. Even listening to - uh, Jenna? - talk was exhausting, so I need some time to get my energy back." He said, pulling on his jacket and grabbing a register from underneath the counter.

"How much time do you need?" Caramel called as he walked towards the small corridor to the stairs.

"See ya later Pepper. Ask Tony to show his face sometime. If he's got enough balls to do it. And I'll need ten years Caramel. Thanks for asking!"

Ignoring Pepper's ringing laughter and Caramel's groans, Harry climbed the stairs to the office, and slowed down once he had entered the piled up room, closed the door behind him and the noises of the cafe had died down a bit. Stretching a bit, he threw himself on the chair and opened the register at the page to work at. Then he fumbled through his drawer and popped open a packet of sugar quills, deciding to suck on one and rest for a while. He could only do the social scene for a while at much. That mess of a day in March had been a nightmare, and thankfully things had been going a bit less stressful now.

Lazily putting up his feet on the table, his thoughts wandered to Stark. It was surprising how wrong he had been about the man. Before he had met Pepper, all he knew about him was that he was a rich guy who got paid to make weapons and he exploited the fact fully. He had also been on the news for his various lawsuits, filed by girls and women who were apparently after his money, but Harry doubted any of them might be true. And then Pepper had walked in one day, smiling and talkative, and burst his myths about the man.

Tony's parents had died in a car crash. They had actually died in one, not like Harry - who just used it as an excuse to hide the real story. He was not very close to his father either, and had had a pretty much loveless childhood. When Caramel, who had as always been listening in, had exclaimed that Harry was the same and that his parents had died when he was young too - well, he didn't like the look Pepper had given him. He knew at that moment that she considered him a wayward version of her boss.

She hadn't mentioned their childhoods again much - not that it was a huge comfort - but she had only once otherwise mentioned that Tony had some serious commitment issues because of his childhood. She had said that when Caramel had complained about Harry's non-interest in the opposite sex. Or any sex. Harry liked Pepper, she was a woman with a good heart, but she was too observant for her own good. And when she talked, he always accidentally spilled something or the other about his life that he was not supposed to tell - like Justin, who no one was supposed to know about, the fact that he like red heads - that had been spilled because of her too - and also the fact that he hadn't had a loveless life, he had a great family at home. She had quickly retaliated with why he didn't meet them, and he had shut up for his own good. That was the reason he liked Pepper a lot, but couldn't afford to spend much time with her.

In fact, that was the reason he spent rather less time actually talking to his staff too - they were like a bunch of kids who would just run amok in the cafe, doing whatever they liked, if he wasn't there to monitor them. He knew he should have chosen people who were a bit professional, but he couldn't afford someone too nosy - at least the four of them didn't ask him about his personal life. Well, much.

That reminded him, it was mid April and May was almost upon him. Bringing with it the first anniversary since he had left. Last May, he had known what he would do, but he hadn't contemplated how he would handle _that_ day.

Days passed, and as April came to an end, so did his sleep. He hardly got a wink of sleep before some horrible scene from his past unfolded in front his eyes and his brain went into full panic mode. He was gripped with panic half of the night - scenarios played in his mind, each worse than the other, scenarios where Ron and Hermione were in danger, or Ginny, or George or Luna or Neville, and he didn't help them, because he couldn't hear them. He saw their faces - full of pain and torture, but he couldn't help them because he didn't know, he couldn't hear anything, they never made a sound. The worst, however, was when he saw Teddy.

Because he didn't know what his godson looked like now, his mind still showed him as the eight-year old boy he had last seen. The day he saw Teddy, he didn't sleep for the whole night, and the next one at the cafe was a stressful one. He had been opting to stay upstairs and he could feel the other four's staring and judgmental stares as he said that he wouldn't join them again that day. His anxiety spiked with every step, and as he entered the office, he realized why.

There was an owl tapping at the window.

* * *

"How's the student? Davina? Dorothy? What was it?" Tony said, not looking up from the battery that he had pulled apart that day, as Pepper entered with a light click of heels. That sound told him that it was not a day to mess with her. May was usually not a good month for him - everything got mixed up with his projects - he could never complete one successfully because of the pre summer hassle at the company.

Sure enough, when she walked through, Pepper's hair was coming out in long strands and her face was pinker than normal. He took note of the time. It was only ten in the morning - why did she look so unkept?

"Daisy. And she left before I got here. Nothing's missing, I already checked-"

"What did you do - walk through a hurricane?" He said, raising an eyebrow at her. She made an effort to fix her hair in the glass of the lab, but gave up after like two seconds, turning to him with narrowed eyes.

"It's all your fault - Harry's place wasn't open today and we kept waiting for half an hour because _you_ don't drink any other coffee without throwing a tantrum-"

"I _do not_ throw a tantrum - and who the hell is Harry?"

"-but he never turned up. It's the guy who owns the coffee place! Now stop trying to distract me-"

"-what am I - 5? And I'm not trying to distract you! What - am I supposed to ignore you not looking perfect like always-"

"What? I don't - what?"

"No I mean you're always prim and proper and today you looked, well, you looked pretty tired for ten in the morning so that's why I asked. Why do you always think that about me-".

"Oh I'm sorry then. If you didn't mean to distract me then let's talk business, Mr. Stark. You have three meetings today-".

He let out a loud groan. _Why?_

"Why today? I just went to the office yesterday - couldn't this be done yesterday-?"

"It's General Ross - this one's on his terms Mr. Stark-"

"Ross? They found Banner?"

"No, they need to give the report of our sonic cannons they used to _try_ to capture Banner-"

"Well then if they didn't catch him, what's the point? I'm not gonna meet them - _you_ get the report-"

"But he's the head- Alright. Fine, I'll do it. After lunch you have a meeting with Hammer Industries-"

"Cancel it. Say I'm ill - tell them I'm dead-"

"It's already been postponed three times, Mr. Stark!-"

"I don't care Pepper the guy's a dick! He's insufferable - I'm not meeting anybody from there until their head changes. Next!"

"..."

"I can see you in the glass' reflection - put the pen down, I love this shirt."

"And you say you're not a five year old! It's better to get this over with than stalling-"

"I said _NO_. Is there anything else you need from me? I didn't get a coffee so you better have something else or clear my schedule for the whole day-"

"I can't - there's an Opening Ceremony you need to be at 8 in the evening."

"Great, get me coffee from somewhere else or I don't go anywhere. Check the Marauder place in the evening - I'm in need of a muffin too. Or a donut. Or both."

* * *

It was one of the rare times he went to headquarters with Pepper in the same car. The Coupe compromised what it lacked in speed with luxury and style. The only thing that didn't match the mood was Pepper's frown - she had finally dragged him with her today again, what else did she want?

She was looking thoughtfully out her side of the window, so he tapped her with the phone he had been tinkering with.

"What's wrong now? Why are you staring outside all doom and gloom? I'm doing three meetings today that's something to party about."

She smiled lightly but she did not stop looking worried. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. I was just looking out for your Marauder place - it's been three days since we saw Harry."

"Since anybody saw him, really." Happy added from the front, "I saw the blonde guy - Clark, yesterday. He was just hanging about with a few of his friends even though MM was locked. He said none of them had heard from Harry at all. He's not even picking his phone."

That deepened Pepper's frown and she looked even more worried. This guy - Harry - hadn't looked shady but then, he could never be sure until he ran a search.

"You're worrying for nothing Pep. He might just be taking a break from all the hustle. Do any of his friends know where he lives?"

"No Sir. They don't know where he lives - that's why most of them are concerned. He sort of disappeared without notice."

"Huh, weird. Does he have a surname?" Tony asked, typing away on his phone, asking Jarvis to conduct a search on the owner of the the place.

"Uh... I guess he does. But we don't know it." Happy replied, and Pepper crossed her arms, still looking out the window. He didn't like how she was so unusually worried for this guy.

There were hundreds of Harrys in the restaurant business and Tony didn't even remember the guy's face very well. He decided not to ask either of the other two occupants of the car, because he was sure they wouldn't take well to his little search beyond the normal boundaries for this guy.

"Maybe he went to visit his family." Pepper said quietly, biting her lips.

"What - the family in Britain? He never mentioned them to me - he said he had a few friends back there, no family since his parents are dead." Happy said with a frown, and Pepper nodded.

"Yeah he avoids that topic like the plague. It's a surprise I even got that much from him." Pepper said, looking meaningfully at him.

 _Huh._ So _that's_ why Pepper was so concerned with him. He would have to meet this Harry and warn him about Pepper now. Meanwhile, he needed to draw them away from that topic.

"I want a cheeseburger." He said flatly, in an obvious attempt to change the topic, though he wasn't sure it worked as he definitely saw Pepper rolling her eyes in hindsight.

* * *

 **So? Verdict? Are we curious what happened? I'm sure you guys can make a very good and near educated guess. It's not that difficult. Come on, pitch in!**


	4. It's Not For Sale

**Chapter 4: Early 2009**

* * *

 _ **Music Recommendation : The Man Who Sold The World by Nirvana**_

* * *

 _Dear Harry,_

 _There are no words to describe how worried I am about you. How worried everyone is. I know Kingsley, Ron and Hermione know where you are. They do know something they're trying to hide but they don't understand the depth of my worry. No one can. Except you._

 _I worry not for myself but for Teddy. He has been a wreck since you left. He knows still that you're on a mission and that something is wrong since you have not returned. Everyone keeps telling him not to worry but he has always been a perceptive child. He knows they're hiding the truth from him - only he thinks that the truth is that you're dead and everyone else is in on it. To be honest, I don't know if you are alive at all or in any state to read this letter, but if you are, I urge you to come home._

 _If you don't, your Godson will worry himself to death. His appetite has taken a hit since the last few months. He only asks about you occasionally, only asks me - right before he goes to bed. There is nothing physically wrong with him but I know that you're the cause of his decline. He sleeps with the stuffed wolf you bought him a few years ago - I don't know where he dug it out from but he's been keeping it around for the last few months. And he's a ten year old boy soon to start Hogwarts._

 _I don't know why you left, I don't care why you left, if you even did. I do know that you love your godson more than anyone in the world and he has to mean more to you than any other reason which made you leave. If you don't reply or return, and I happen to find out where you are, I will not care for any of your explanations Potter, I will make your life hell and make sure you never see you godson again, I swear it on the blood of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black that still runs through my veins._

 _Andromeda Tonks_

* * *

The letter drove such a chill through Harry that he felt his brain go numb for a few seconds, the only words standing out were _never see you godson again_. He didn't remember how he went through the rest of the day. He didn't remember how he even got to Andy's door the next morning. But he did.

And she was shocked to see him at 5 in the morning but she let him in and let him cry on her shoulder for a good five minutes and let him see Teddy soon. The boy was thinner than he remembered but his face lit up with such happiness that Harry never wanted to leave. He chatted away and held his boy in his lap for about three hours, before he let up and asked to tell Uncle George about him. Then came the tricky part.

He surprisingly didn't have a hard time convincing Andy to hide the meeting from everyone. She just listened to him stuttering about not wanting the others to know because he was not comfortable with talking to anyone else, looking at him all suspicious and worried but still not asking the question outright. Andy promised, and though Teddy asked a lot of questions, he was quick to promise the same when Harry clarified that he couldn't continue these visits otherwise. Harry worried about it - Teddy would soon start going to Hogwarts and start asking even more questions and Harry would have to answer them. And eventually, he knew Teddy would figure it out. He was a smart kid. Too smart.

He ended up exchanging two years worth of gossip with Andromeda. Everything she could think of, with Teddy helping her along with little tid-bits here and there - most of them about Victorie Weasley and how she was his favourite Weasley this year taking over from Uncle George for last year.

He also learned that Teddy still loved to sport his mothers bubblegum pink hair, though he had developed a rather bookwormish spirit like his father too. He'd also cultivated a rather wonderful habit of morphing his face into someone else' and mocking them by saying horrible things about themselves. Harry laughed like it was the most hilarious thing he had seen when he did an impression of Andy. He was proud of his Godson's particular achievement and he told him that.

He also learned that Ron and Hermione avoided talking about him, dodging the topic like it was the plague. Kingsley was less hostile but equally unrelenting when anyone asked him questions. Harry was inwardly thankful to the three- though he still felt pangs of guilt, regret and sometimes simply pain when he thought about what he'd done to Ron and Hermione. Some fishing also brought it to his attention that Ron was planning on retiring from the Auror office soon and that Hermione had let it slip that she was getting transferred to the Department of Mysteries soon. It made alarms go off in Harry's head - but he curbed his instinct to worry and think the worst of the situation. He wouldn't think about it until it was necessary.

He ended up staying at Andy's place for three days, spending his time surrounded by bliss and happiness and his two favourite people in the world, before he had to go back to his new world. He thought about contacting someone but then realised that he hadn't bothered to bring his phone with him, as it would have frizzed out as soon as he entered the house.

He did remember the trip back - it was highly inconvenient to stop at 5 different places around the world to get back, and to take breaks between apparation since he couldn't push himself. Technically, he could but he didn't want to test those waters just yet. So it took him another full day to get back to California, and when he did - it was to numerous messages and missed calls and texts from his staff and from a few other friends - mainly Pepper, Happy, Alex, Clara and Justin. He slept for a while first, coming back to his house made him realise how lucky he had been that the start of May had been spent at Andy's. He didn't know how he could have handled that particular day alone.

After four days of his mysterious absence, it was almost a surprise that no one had filed a missing person report but he suspected Justin might have talked to someone - like Caramel or Pepper, to make sure they did nothing of the sort. He owed the man a beer. Instead of calling and informing like he should have, he texted Caramel and the rest of the staff instead, hoping they would just reach out to the rest.

* * *

The days progressed into weeks and he was getting better with handling sleep and sleepless nights because of his days spent with Teddy, though Pepper remained frosty with him for a week after he returned and only relented after he made a trip to Stark Industries personally. He could have sworn it was a set up by Pepper and Caramel, who had now successfully replaced Ginny and Hermione's roles in his life. Mostly Ginny though, because as much as he didn't want to admit it to himself - he missed Hermione more. And Ron even more than her.

The trip to Stark Industries was humiliating to say the least. He'd found out from Happy that Pepper was at the Headquarters so he'd had to drive all the way down to the city on his bike. He liked the ride, even though he got many weird looks on the road and the traffic was impossible. He'd seen the tall, bald man who had come in with Tony all the way back in March, and he had only looked down at Harry and his bike, offering no greeting or sign of acknowledgement. Harry was used to being not recognised but the way the man looked at him - it just made his skin prickle. He ignored the guy and went inside though, and Pepper had been thrown off to say the least, when the lady at the reception had called her to ask about some _"Harry from the coffee shop"_ who wanted to meet her. The lady had raised an eyebrow at him and stared for a while before he went up to meet Pepper.

He'd ignored the uncomfortable feeling though, and just grinned at Pepper in her office and handed her her two favourite drinks (warming charms were bloody useful), with extra cream. Her eyes looked a bit misty but she talked to him fine after that, chatted for a while in her office, ignoring a few calls and messages. He let himself out after fifteen minutes of distracting her, even though she insisted that he was welcome there all the time. Especially if he was going to bring her coffee everytime.

May melted into June as the world grew hotter around them, the kids at the cafe started to wonder why he didn't wear short sleeves - nothing that showed skin above half his forearms. It was pretty puzzling to them, but they knew better than to ask since he was now an expert at dodging the questions he didn't want to answer. So they mostly ended up grumbling silently among themselves. That, however, didn't stop Caramel from asking, and prodding him time to time, hoping that he'd explode eventually.

It was one of those days, and he was about to snap at her soon and hole up in his office to write a letter to Andy, when the door to the cafe dinged open and he instinctively looked to check if it was someone he knew. And well, he kind of did.

It was Stark, in all his suited and booted glory, hair styled up with a minimal amount of gel and an undoubtedly limited edition Starkphone beeping away in his hand as he typed hurriedly on it.

"So _you're_ Harry, huh? How old are you again? Well, I'd have searched but looks like your files are sealed by somebody high up. So what's your background - ISI? KGB? Are you a vet? NSA? Ex-CIA? MI5 or MI6? Come on tell me - why'd you drop out? You're too young though - can't be more than 25-"

"I _am_ more than 25."

Harry's brain had pretty much short-circuited the moment Stark had opened his mouth and asked how old he was. No one was supposed to know that - and the man had done a search on him? What was trying to do - become James Bond? Not to mention that was a huge invasion of his privacy and then he had starting listing intelligence agencies as if he already knew something was wrong about him.

The words Harry said came out on instinct, a defence mechanism targeted purely to make him stop. Harry was going to turn thirty next year, and it didn't help that he still looked twenty. But then his brain processed the rest of the words and he realised his documents were sealed? Was that Justin trying to protect his identity from the MACUSA Headquarters in America or had Kingsley run a hand through muggle affairs for him? This made no sense - he'd have to confirm with Justin if his documents were really sealed.

Stark wouldn't lie about this though - since his ego seemed to have taken a pretty big hit with the knowledge. His mouth was currently hanging open in between the sentence Harry had interrupted, but he recovered quickly and scoffed immediately, "I don't believe you. Where's the proof?"

"There is no proof. Would you like a coffee, Mr. Stark?" Harry replied immediately, swallowing his nervousness and replacing it with a bored look at the guy's incessant questioning.

"Wha- _No._ I don't want a coffee. Don't bullshit me about the age thing - you absolutely can't be more than _twenty_. No offence but you're _tiny,_ kid. And that motorcycle outside - do you even fit on that thing? Do your feet even touch the road?"

Harry gave a very put upon sigh, ignoring Caramel who had abruptly slowed down her work to listen to Stark going on.

"Yes the bike is mine. Yes I fit on it and yes, my feet _do_ touch the road. And _you're_ one to call me short - how many inches are your heels again? I'm sure they're taller than Pepper's, Mr. Stark. I wouldn't go calling _me_ tiny."

Stark blanched at the heels comment, and Harry pressed his lips together to try not to grin. He heard Caramel subtly trying to cover a laugh with a cough.

"Well, aren't _you_ a smartass." Stark muttered after fumbling for a few seconds and scowling at him. After a beat, he seemed to decide it was a useless topic to continue and changed track, "So what about the modification on the bike? Don't tell me you did that too - 'cause I refuse to believe a midget handled that bike alone. Now don't go calling _me_ a midget - I'm taller than you." Stark said with an over top puff of his chest, acting very much like a five year old competing with a friend.

Harry let out a surprised laugh at the man and a part of him wanted to ask Stark to remove his shoes and measure his height then and there, but he soon realised that he probably _was_ a few inches shorter than Stark without his shoes.

"Don't go on his height," Jade said, appearing out of nowhere, probably to punch in a new order, "He's a ball of fire on the bad days - should see him barking at us in the morning rush. Honestly, no value of us working our asses off-" Jade stopped as he took a look at he was talking to, and promptly stopped in between his sentence.

"Oh. You're Tony Stark." He said with a rather weak breath, then looked at Harry with wide eyes, probably realising what he had been saying.

"That I am. Thanks for reminding me." Stark replied without missing a beat, which made Harry and Caramel snort simultaneously and Jade to go a bright shade of pink.

"Right. I - I meant- I mean I mean to say - I'll just - I'll go now. Enjoy your coffee." Jade squeaked out eventually, and hurried off to the storage room for a breather.

Stark was smirking in the direction Jade had disappeared, then turned back to Harry, "So what about that bike?"

Harry wanted, badly, to ask Stark what the hell Stark was doing here since the man hadn't ordered a coffee till now, but he hesitated. He couldn't very well ask Stark to get out, the man _was_ a millionaire after all, and Harry loved his little joint since sometimes it seemed to be the only thing holding him sane. So he sucked up his impatience and replied to the dark haired man.

"What about it?" He said, barely stopping from high-fiving himself at the annoyed look on Stark's face.

"You're a little shit aren't you- Wait, what's your last name?" Stark asked, another question Harry didn't want to answer.

"My Godfather gifted me the bike but it was destroyed in an accident. My Unc- a friend rebuilt it for me and added some modifications. That's why it looks different. Now would you like some coffee or do you want to use the loo?" Harry said, not answering the most recent question in a completely unsubtle way.

Stark raised his eyebrows at him and stared for a second, before shaking his head, "Real subtle, kid."

He seemed to have got the memo that he wasn't welcome though, so he smirked charmingly at Caramel, who seemed to be thrown off with the sudden attention. He gave her his order and Harry barely controlled his laughter at the blush on her face and her unusual quietness while processing it.

"Well, can't really say t'was a pleasure to meet you, but maybe I can ride that bike sometime?" Stark said after a while, as Caramel handed him his coffee.

Before he could even think of answering politely, Harry had scoffed in the man's face, "You wish."

Stark had smirked again, and left with a short _"Later, kid",_ leaving Harry with a weird sense of instability that came with his mouth running off on it's own when he talked to Stark, trying to keep up with the man. He'd heard that the man was a genius but he hadn't realised that it came with the implication of the guy being able to jabber continuously in the most annoying fashion ever. Especially when it came to getting information he wanted - which made Harry realise that this surprise visit wasn't going to be a solitary occurrence.

The next time he saw Pepper, he'd give her a free drink for dealing with this man every single say.

* * *

A week later and he still hadn't heard back from Justin. Pepper, however did drop off by the cafe to apologise on Tony's behalf - explaining that he didn't really realise the meaning of privacy, especially when it came to outsiders. Harry had quickly ensured her that he wasn't offended, even though personally, it had made him put his guard up around Pepper too. He didn't want to think what Stark would have found out if the files hadn't been sealed. He didn't even know what exactly _was_ on the files that were sealed.

Eventually though, things turned back to normal; Caramel, for some reason, teased him about being so at ease with The Tony Stark. Pepper agreed with her, which made Harry twitch in his seat. It was one time - they'd talked just once and already he felt like never meeting the man again. It was mostly because he could relate too well to Stark's condition since the man represented the part of himself that was left back in London. He could have set up a business and he was already famous - _this_ would have been his lifestyle if he'd been a little more ready to ignore the obvious situation of his oncoming immortality. And just like Stark, he had no family. Maybe Pepper's opinions were finally getting to his head.

That reminded him, Pepper had been complaining about Harry's bike causing a bad influence on Tony, to which Harry had taken heavy offence - _"Hey! My bike had nothing to do with your boss' pigheadedness!"_

Stark had apparently started hunting for a Bonneville in trash markets, so that he could restore it himself. Harry very much doubted that Stark would be able to keep himself from including some high-tech function or the other, completely butchering the authenticity of the bike. Pepper had simply replied that her boss was a literal child in these situations, so it was better to just let him do what he wanted. With that, she'd also asked him to do her a favor and allow Stark to ride his bike once, to which Harry had simply growled out a _"No way"._

Whatever the case was, he wasn't looking forward to the day when Stark would make an appearance again, which he did in September. It was a hot day, sweat broke out on bodies very quickly, and everyone avoided going outside. The colder refreshments were more in order, even though many still preferred their beverages caffeinated in some twisted way. He hadn't expected even Pepper or Happy to drop by - much less Stark himself.

The man was dressed in a grey AC/DC shirt, his muscles bulging and a cap on his head, as if trying to avoid attention. But the shop was rather dull that day. There was no rush, the work was going lazy so Clark had decided to take a break and was in the storage room, napping or something. It was just Caramel, Jon, Jade and Harry in house, almost everyone looking up at Stark when he entered with a ding of the bell. He made his way through the jumble of furniture with a shit eating grin, but Harry beat him to the punch before he even opened his mouth to ask.

"The answer's still no, Stark. How'd you bribe Pepper, by the way? Extra bonus? Paid vacation?"

Stark promptly scowled, before tugging a beanie towards Harry's desk and throwing himself on it. He kicked his shows up on another armchair, while Caramel abandoned cleaning the coffee machine to come to Stark for his order.

"Hello Mr. Stark! What can I get you?" She said with a charming, flirty smile. It matched Stark's own replying grin every bit in charm and fakeness, they'd be a perfect match if not for the age gap of ten or something years. That made Harry think of Lupin and Tonks. No no - that wasn't the right direction to go today.

He'd missed Stark's reply but the man was now looking at him with a grin again, so whatever was to come out of his idiotic mouth couldn't really be good.

"Would it kill you to be sweet for once? I thought Brits were supposed to be super polite and shit?"

Jon snorted from his place on the counter he was propped up on, "Yeah we were under that misconception too. Wait till you see him on a busy day - cursing left and right like a damn sailor-"

"SO I'm not polite sometimes! Big deal. It's only when you kids make me lose my shit with your damn incompetence. Can't handle five orders at one time - how am I supposed to keep things running if you're gonna whine just with that?"

Jon decided to chime in just then, "Well, _excuse me_ for being precise with my baking Mister-I'm-Going-To-Leave-My-Cafe-In-The-Hands-of-an-Inexperienced-Twenty-Year-Old-and-Sleep-In-My-Office!"

 _What the_ \- Harry definitely _did not_ sleep in his office everyday. It was just that he slept a bit better surrounded by the paperwork. And Caramel was more than experienced at handling the complete load of work. And sure enough-

" _Oi_! Who're _you_ calling inexperienced?! You only know how to bake! Like a fucking pussy! What are you - a twelve year old girl? Baking and whining and pissing rainbows-"

Jon stood up from his seat looking rather red and Harry knew Caramel had gone a bit far with the baking comment. Stark was holding his stomach laughing, rubbing his hands on his face to scrub away tears as Jon and Caramel jabbed the insults at each other.

 _"Cara_ \- apologise to your brother. That was low." Harry said, feeling ridiculously old and grandpa-like, scolding his employees. All of them knew that Caramel was wrong on this one. She always made a low blow. Stark was still wheezing a bit in the background but quieted it down to a huff.

"Sorry. Whatever. Shouldn't have said that. _Lil' fucker._ Thinks he can get away with calling _me_ inexperienced…" Caramel's voice eventually died away into hostile little mutters, her hands making a little more noise than necessary as she banged about irritably.

Stark snorted again, "Lordy - do you guys pull this everyday? Do you like record it and put on a show for the customers or is this just a one time thing? Is that why it's so rushed sometimes?"

Harry scoffed lightly as Jon sat back with another magazine. Jade was still moving about the few customers, taking orders when anyone new arrived.

"No, Mr. Stark. Nothing like that. They're cousins, they just bicker a lot. I have to interfere very rarely - Jade is the most level headed. Of all of us, to be honest. He handles it." He replied lowly with a chuckle.

"Cousins, huh? Couldn't have called it." Stark said eventually, looking over at Jon sitting on the counter. There was a tone of masked longing there that Harry couldn't help but catch.

"Yeah." He replied in the same tone quietly. He could relate.

"Your coffee, Sir." Caramel came over, carrying a cup of the strongest coffee he'd seen her make in a while, and handed it to Stark. He sat up, and Harry noticed a cut on his cheekbone that he was surprised he hadn't noticed before.

"What happened with that?" Harry asked curiously, mostly without thinking, because this conversation with Stark was going rather smoothly. The man wasn't being a pain in the arse. Yet.

"Oh this." Stark replied absently, fingers grazing the cut, "Tripped over an engine in the lab. I was drunk. No big deal." He said, waving a hand, but then looked at Harry with renewed interest.

"That reminds me though - how much do you want for the bike?"

"What?"

"Yeah. The bike. How much do you want for it? I want to buy."

"What? _No way!_ That's my - are you kidding? 'Cause I can't tell."

"No I'm not kidding, Greeny. I'm a hundred percent serious. I want to buy it." That was impossible. This man was absolutely _impossible_. Obviously he'd spoken too soon about Stark's tendencies to be a cocky little bastard. Had Harry not told him that it was his Godfather's? Had he accidentally somehow insinuated that he wanted to sell it?

'"It's not for sale, Mr. Stark." Harry finally ground out with difficulty. If Stark thought he could win this round with his stupid money, he was sorely mistaken.

"Well, settle down there kiddo. I'm just pitching - give me a number. Come on." He was unfazed. Tony Stark was a huge dimwit who apparently couldn't take no for an answer. Well, he'd have to learn new habits then.

"I said _No_. It belonged to my Godfather. It's not for fucking sale, Stark. _Back off."_ His jaw was stuck together and was he biting out his words - but he couldn't help it. This man was such a huge dickhead it was impossible to deal with him straight headed. The look Stark was giving him now was of shrewd wonder, and… And maybe a little soft?

"Sentimental value, huh? Should've said so." He quipped finally, and relaxed backwards again, keeping his eyes on Harry curiously. Harry felt himself shifting under his dark gaze again.

"I did. The last time you came asking about it, I mentioned that."

"Huh. My bad. Must've forgotten." Stark said in an all too airy voice, and Harry couldn't decide if he was lying or not.

"Should've paid attention then, shouldn't you?" Harry found himself muttering uncomfortably, Stark's eyes were still trained on him. Harry could practically hear the cogs turning his mind. He was a brilliant man sure, but the man had a bit of a problem - in that he was a little batshit crazy. Though by extension, that kinda applied to him too. Huh.

'So don't you have like a company to run or something, Mr. Stark? In fact - where is Pepper? Or Happy? One of them is always with you, as far as I know.' Harry said eventually, after about a minute of silence and staring eyes. The cafe was buzzing around them and everyone was carrying on with work, except for Stark and Harry, who seemed to be a part of some weird silent mental battle thing.

Stark laughed outright at his question and finally, _freaking finally_ removed his rather creepy gaze from him. "Call me Tony. I have to call you by your first name so it's only fair you get to do it too." Stark - Tony said, placing his cup by the side of Harry's desk and raising his arms over his head to stretch.

"As for Pepper and Happy - I escaped custody for a day. No office work and I was down in the lab and I wanted coffee so I drove out here. Thought why not give the bike a try. They'll probably be going mad finding me. Shit'll hit the fan if Pepper finds out I came here and bothered you." He grinned at Harry lazily, doing a few more practice stretches.

"God, can't imagine what you two bond about that makes her so nervous about me meeting you… It's like I'm a five year old told to watch my tongue in front of Grandpa."

Harry snorted loudly at that - that was exactly what he'd been feeling like. "Well you _are_ a five year old. But I'm definitely not a gramps. She wants to keep an eye on you so that you don't go corrupting me."

It's Stark's turn- _Tony's_ turn to scoff. "Yes because you're so _sweet_ and flipping _innocent_. Everyone knows you're a little shit who's managed to crawl his way into my innocent assistant's heart. Don't know how you managed that by the way. Couldn't have been your sweet talking abilities cuz you don't have any."

Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Tony was already grinning triumphantly, subtly high-fiving Caramel and winking at Jon. Finally, Harry could only purse his lips and scoff, muttering a half-hearted _"Fuck you"_.

* * *

Stark didn't leave it at one visit and proceeded to hound the shit out of Harry. Harry was rather reluctant to warm up to him, something he made clear with the constant jabbing at the millionaire's ego and making sure to know that he wasn't welcome. The man was relentless though, and after Harry had ended up snorting coffee all over his expensive dress shirt (Stark was grabbing a shake before a party - Harry had no idea why) when Stark told a particularly corny joke, Harry decided he'd had enough. Stark wasn't going to stop visiting and annoying him, obviously - the man actually ordered food and drink whenever he came by so Harry couldn't exactly complaint to Pepper. That would be regarded as whining.

So he decided to save himself the trouble and just let things be. He couldn't very well stop things from happening and being annoying Harry just seemed to give the man some sick pleasure so he just stuck his to his usual display of impatience.

September whirled it's way into December in no time and the weather calmed down and stopped trying to kill Harry. Harry remembered that the dress shirt incident was somewhere in December because he had been wearing long sleeves and Tony had pointed out that he'd finally gotten away the whole summer without anyone finding out what was going on with the sleeves.

It was things like these that made Harry often uncomfortable in the man's presence. As if his secretary wasn't enough, Stark was cut from the same rope and they were both apparently observant little shits. Pepper was still visiting often, apologising on behalf of Tony sometimes and mostly bearing a message or two from the man himself.

Stark's visits, thankfully, were often panned out at the rate of twice a month or less, so Harry was rather relieved when he didn't show up anytime in January. Especially since Jade had gone on a rather extended holiday to meet his friends in New York and the cafe was suffering through a bit more chaotic period than usual. Jade had studied Law at New York University for two years and had made some good friends in the year above his, before transferring to California because of some issue with his parents.

Harry had never asked about it, so he didn't say anything when Jade asked for an extended holiday either. A part of him worried about what would happen if Jade made up with his parents or whatever, but then he scoffed at himself the next second. That was nothing to worry over - Jade was his employee, he shouldn't be thinking like that.

The guy was a lot happier when he returned, with the news that his friends had promised to visit him soon. Harry was just happy to get him back since Caramel and Jon's fights were putting him off a lot, and everything became a little bit unmanageable without him.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of April and Harry's mind had started clouding with apprehension again. May would come soon. Something he hadn't realised last year was that May also brought along Pepper and Tony's birthdays, and one from Clark or Jon - he couldn't remember. Anyway, he remembered thinking about it in the last week of April, when suddenly, his phone was blaring out in the middle of the cafe, on an already loud evening.

It was an unknown number, so Harry hesitated for a second before answering, deciding not to panic just yet. His worry was futile though, because the voice on the other end was too familiar.

 _"Hey Harry, I was wondering if you're free tomorrow. I need some help... with this thing. I mean not really - I guess you can say no and I should probably ask Happy but I think you know her better. Happy kinda does too but y'know how he is sometimes. Plus, I need to keep this a secret so I thought it's better if you pick... I mean, I picked already. I mean almost - Argh! Look, what I'm saying is can you come down to the house tomorrow evening? I'd send a car but I'd rather you just come on your bike - maybe I'll get a chance with it or something. Or not - however you say. I mean this is kinda important and I can't trust - I mean just come down tomorrow and I'll explain-"_

"Are you doing drugs or something, Tony?"

 _"Wait - Isn't this on voicemail?! I thought this was going on voicemail-!"_

"You were going to leave me all that on voicemail? Are you insane-?"

 _"Damn it - and everyone heard I suppose. Your staff is so nosy, I swear to God-"_

"Hey! Who're you calling nosy-?!"

"Cut it out, Jon!"

 _"Harry, can you or can you not be there tomorrow? This is important-"_

"What kind of important? I don't want to be guinea pig for any experiment or anything else related to my bike or so help me God, I will-"

" _No no no no it's nothing like that - It's... It's - I want some help with planning Pepper's birthday!"_

* * *

 **Fingers crossed! I hope I haven't lost it and the writing and all's still acceptable. Review please! I'm dying to know what y'all think about the new developments! Also we're starting Iron Man soon, but before that, next chapter'll probably have some more Teddy. No promises though!**


	5. You Have No Family

**Chapter 5: And Now Tony Matters Too**

* * *

 _ **Music Recommendation: We Don't Talk Anymore by Charlie Puth**_

* * *

"THEY WERE ON A BREAK!"

"NO THEY WERE NOT! HE-"

"Oh my God! Shut up!" Alex exclaimed loudly from his armchair by the farthest window, folding his newspaper as he stood to give Jon and Caramel a level glare. Alex was a petite and heavily tattooed guy, who apparently attended University with Clark and was friends with almost all of his staff. And Harry. Sort of.

"Harry, be a peach and pack me a double latte to go with two chocolate chip cookies." He gathered up his newspaper and the couple of books he had strewn around the table with him, and made his way towards Caramel and Jon, who were behind the counter, arguing as usual.

"And I swear to God I will hurl the boiling hot coffee at your fucking heads if I hear you argue about that stupid show one more time!" He continued, putting his hands on his hips as Harry maneuvered himself between them to pack up Alex' order, rolling his eyes at the siblings who were facing each other in a heated stare-off.

There was loud, theatrical gasp from one of the tables, one of his blondest and most regular customers - Clara, was looking at Alex like he had personally offended her. Mentally, Harry wondered how he always got stuck with such dramatic people in his life.

Alex and Clara couldn't be more different than each other - Alex was dark haired, small and muscely, while Clara was tall, blonde and lean. Clara wore a blue business dress, paired with a black coat that was now hanging next to the door that chimed every couple minutes. Alex, on the other hand, wore a sleeveless gym shirt with deliberate holes in it that showed a black undershirt. He paired up with ripped jeans, carefully styled hair and an earring in one year. Alex ran a tattoo shop in the heart of the city, and Clara worked at Hammer Industries as Deputy Sales Manager. Clara had to be at least two years older than Alex.

Sometimes, he honestly didn't understand their relationship, but today was not that day.

"Did you just insult FRIENDS? Do you want me to stop the sex-?"

"WHOA Hey!" Harry interrupted quickly, shoving Alex' coffee in his hand with a brown paper bag for cookies, "I'm pretty sure we don't want to hear that-"

"Are you gonna kick us out?" Clara said with a shit eating grin, winking coyly at Jon as she leaned against the counter, "Because we all know you can't do that. You owe me favours, Har-Bear!"

"Do not call me that ridiculous name - Harry. Just Harry for God's sake." Harry grumbled as he crossed his arms defensively and put on a scowl.

"I can call you whatever I like my Harmonster-"

"Not that again." Harry groaned.

"-because I seem to remember a rather cold January morning when your toes needed warming up and you asked me to sit on your feet and I had endure your toes up my ass crack-"

"Yes - Yes, Okay. Alright. You win. I owe you. Do whatever the fuck you want." Harry groaned again, rubbing his face with his hands as Jon and Caramel cackled with laughter by his side, "Have sex on the counter for all I care - just make sure you're the one to tell Clark."

"So that he can skin me alive and then cut off my balls and hang them in his room - No thanks." Alex muttered, shivering a bit as he caught sight of the man in question talking to an old lady by the door.

"Well, nice to see at least someone scares you-"

"He's not the only one - have you seen the glare Kate gives on Saturday mornings when I run into her? Don't get me started on that woman-"

"She's four years younger than you, you - you pussy!" Clara exclaimed, swatting her boyfriend on his very much muscly bicep, shaking her head in disgust.

Alex and Clara dissolved into another banter, after they said goodbye to Harry and the siblings, arguing about something related to Kate and a vibrator that Harry really didn't want to think about.

Just as they left, Harry noticed that Jade was still not back from the storage, probably sneaking in a couple minutes rest, again. Harry kicked himself for some thousandth fucking time for assembling this team of lazy shit pits that were ready to bail on him at the smallest opportunity. Granted, most of them were students and their life was probably hectic, he was sure the productivity of his employees was really less than whatever was normal for employees of a busy cafe. He didn't want to think about what would happen the day Jade graduated, which was coming near, now that he thought about it.

That started worrying him again, and he remembered that this is why he didn't think about it. Breathing in a deep sigh as he heard Jon and Caramel start to mutter to each other again - "Okay, then what about Chandler and Cathy? No one blamed Chandler for acting the way he did! That was practically the same situation!" and then "No it wasn't!" -

"Jade, you lazy little git get your dumb ass down here and stop hogging the bathroom!" Harry shouted up from the bottom of the stairs, after making sure that Jade was in neither of the two supply rooms.

"Caramel, Jon - shut your cakeholes for a second and let a guy think! For fuck's sake - you do realise there are customers present and waiting! Merlin." The last part was mostly muttered to himself as he waited for Jade to climb down from the stairs. The staircase was made of cheap steel and was round, rickety and small so they mostly didn't like to try their strength much.

"You are watching way too much Supernatural, Harry. Like way way too much." Caramel commented from the counter as she sat in position to man the register for a while. Harry shook his head to himself and didn't bother to reply - in his defence, the witches on the show made him laugh. Well, pretty much everything about everything he knew made him laugh. He would never admit to anyone though, that Jensen Ackles had a nice ass.

Finally after Jade made his way down with a pained look in his eyes that he coupled with a muttered "Stomach", Harry climbed on the rickety old staircase to his office. He didn't notice anything unusual until he had closed the door and had turned around to face his table. Even then, it took him a few seconds to realize there was something extra on the table.

In his defence though, Pigwidgeon was a pretty small owl.

* * *

 _Hi Harry,_

 _This is Ron. Though I guess you figured that out yourself, huh? Pig's a dead giveaway. I really shouldn't be using him to send this - it could be caught and intercepted with no difficulty. Too transparent. But whatever, I guess._

 _So it's been a while. I'm writing cuz I figure you visited Teddy, huh? We knew it was bound to happen sometime - with the way he was acting, it was only a matter of time Andy hunted you down. I guess there is nothing worse than the wrath of that woman. Or Mum. And Hermione, I guess. Well, Ginny too._

 _Well, what I mean is, I'm glad you visited Teddy. He needed it. And don't worry neither Andy nor Teddy said anything about it. Or at least to someone that's important. I sort of overheard Andy warning Teddy not to mention anything about you to anyone before they entered The Burrow for dinner. I didn't say anything to them, but I figured if you visited Teddy you might want to. I mean now that you're at least talking to Andy and Teddy, they'll keep you in the loop about things here._

 _Talking of that, I want you to know that we're okay. You and me. It doesn't bother me - what you said that day at Grimmauld, because I sort of understand where you were coming from. You did say some pretty harsh things to Hermione, and I guess you owe her an apology (you owe that to a lot of people), but I know that she owes you one too. I know that you don't need me to tell you this but you're forgiven. Both Hermione and me, we forgive you. There isn't really much to forgive but if you want it said, there it is. Maybe now you can get off your high horse and come back._

 _I mean okay. I get why you wanted to leave, with that whole issue - but this is us Harry. It still hurts that you left like that and didn't even look back once. Me and Hermione, we know what happened and why it happened and we can put things past us. But how do you expect Gin to react? And Mum? Even Dad gets this disappointed look in his eyes. I don't know what to tell you mate, you're a grown man. This is your family we're talking about._

 _I don't know what you're doing there. But I want to know. You don't have to tell me the details, I won't try to find you, like we promised, but it can't hurt to know right? I just. We just want to know that you're safe. And we want you to know that you're not alone. Just come back._

 _Whenever you feel like it's okay, or you're ready, get back here. In the meantime, I know you might not be okay with it, but this is happening. You are going to talk about this, if not to me then at least to Andy. I don't know if it was a one time thing but I hope it's not. Teddy would be crushed if nothing else, and I know you won't let that happen._

 _Also, I'v told Pig to stay with you. He has strict instructions from me. What those instructions are - I can't say, but he has them. Sirius gifted him to me, so it's only right that I get to gift him to you, right? So at least now you can't make the excuse that you had no means to send a letter._

 _Which you really should. You could reply if you want to, and we'd be right here to talk. Whatever you want. Whenever you want. I just want to know you're safe Harry._

 _Just take care of yourself,_

 _Ron_

* * *

The name at the end of the letter said Ron, but Harry could clearly read Hermione's words in there. The accidental 'we' in some places, and the fact that Hermione would skin Ron alive if she found out he'd written to him without telling her.

It was endearing to find Pig with him again. The old owl's mad twittering made him smile and grimace at the memories at the same time. Flashes of Ron and Pig in the train at the end of third year, Pig twittering around madly at Grimmauld place in sixth year, and Pig and Hedwig sleeping in their respective owl cages early one morning at Grimmauld.

Harry shook his head and read over the letter once again. His hands twitched to pick up a pen, or even take out a quill and ink, and write back immediately, but something in his gut stopped him. Slowly the feeling rose from his gut to his whole body and pumped through his blood.

He was immortal. They were not. Liabilities. Emotional attachment. That couldn't be allowed. He had to be detached. The feeling in his blood was disgust at him and his... condition.

* * *

Harry drank his way through the first day of May. Binge drinking, to be precise, starting from an evening before and ending the morning after the day. He was terrified to sleep for two more days, but he opened shop on the third day of month anyway.

He hated the day - it was chaos and a fucking mess and the headache - Merlin, the headache. He wanted to pass out and never wake up, but that was never the case with him because he was rarely that lucky. Ron's letter had thrown his emotions off the loop as well, and he was forced to realize that he hadn't met Teddy and Andy again and he needed to do that soon. However, he still couldn't grow enough balls to reply to Ron. And neither did he write to Andy to ask to visit, even though he knew that he could barge in there anytime and Andy wouldn't complaint.

The first week of May was filled with hangovers, headaches, too loud ringtones and notification alerts, dark circles, sleep deprivation and a whole lot of bitter, black coffee. The second week wasn't that much better but the disgust at himself lessened as the days passed. The self-pity he had found himself spewing in passed as the days passed and he was soon able to concentrate on dissuading Tony from throwing Pepper a huge party for her birthday.

The man had his heart in the right place but - No. That was not how Pepper worked. Instead, he decided on a lush and expensive dress, along with a collection of her favorite wines. He had yet to hear exactly how that had gone, even though he received a direct text from Tony a few days later, inviting him to his birthday party at a five star club in LA. Harry had obviously immediately decided he wouldn't go - crowds and high-fi people and dance and alcohol. Just no.

He hadn't thought twice about the matter after shooting Tony a birthday voice message in the morning. He still hadn't thought anything of it the whole day, when he didn't even receive a thank you from the man. Harry just assumed the man was too busy or too drunk but he hadn't assumed - well, this.

"Well?" Tony said, looking up at him expectantly. The move had to hurt his neck, since he was lying face down on Harry's couch, one leg over it's back, and his tie splayed over his back. Two random buttons of the grey vest of his three-piece suit were unbuttoned, and there was no coat in sight. It seemed to have been lost on the way from whatever expensive Hotel Tony had come from.

It was two in the morning and Harry hadn't been sleeping by any means, but he liked to pretend that he was. Tony had rang the bell together a horrible number of times, and Harry had his wand in hand when he opened the door, but Tony hadn't noticed that since he was hammered out of his goddamn mind.

He stood at the door, holding a GPS flashing at the point that was roughly Harry's house, and grinning widely. His eyes were glassy and he stumbled inside the room without invitation, and Harry put two and two together for the situation. Tony had proceeded to coo at the pictures in his living room, announcing who looked hot and who didn't, which made Harry very uncomfortable but glad, at the same time that Tony was drunk. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to showcase the pictures from the gala in the living room.

Tony's attention was soon captured by the slide-slash-staircase that led up to his bedroom, and even though Harry tried his best to stop him, Tony was far more built than he had thought. He didn't seem interested at all by anything upstairs though, and only climbed up to slide back down with a drunken 'wheee!'

Harry soon had sense to stop laughing and made a video on his phone, very carefully, since he still didn't have much experience in handling it. After he had enough pictures for blackmail, he ushered Tony to the sofa, where the man flopped face down on it and almost started to snore. Almost.

After a few minutes of silence, Tony raised his head with a surprisingly clear look on his face, "Harry how old are you?"

His words slurred only very slightly, and Harry maintained his distance, since he expected the man to stand up anytime and start doing a jig or something. After taking note of his silence, Tony said again, "Well?"

"Uh, why?"

"You unnerve me, kid." Tony said, closing one eye and staring at Harry like he was going to take a shot at him. Harry felt confusion rising at Tony's words. Why was he talking about his age all of a sudden?

"That's cuz... You're confused, see. I'll explain. It's 'cause you have no family." Tony said, trying to sit up, and almost falling to the floor in the process.

"Whoa alright. Slow down there." Harry quickly braced Tony back to the sofa as Tony continued talking.

"You got no family... Or-or Pepper said you have family in London but you don't talk about them. So you don't really have... People. Like me. And I've got a whole business to run and I got my cars to distract me and women and I'm just worried- I don't like it when you have nothin' Harry. And you're so young. Or you look young. I mean your walk and the eye thing you got - you look like a hundred or some shit. But whatever, point is you got nobody on your back and Pepper says you don't do women either - or men - so it doesn't feel fair that you're alone."

Harry... didn't know what to do with that information. Tony was pouting and frowning hazily in his direction, and Harry was just staring at him with his mouth hanging open. He had no answer to that. He had no idea how to process that. So Tony... pitied him because he was alone? Or he was worried? Or maybe Pepper was worried? But it was Tony here, drunk out of his mind, not Pepper.

So the bottom line would be that Tony cared about him...? Or saw him as a shorter and green-eyed version of himself and pitied him like he pitied himself? Huh. Wasn't that fucking complicated.

"I'm not alone, Tony." Harry said after a long silence in which Tony surprisingly just remained quiet and observed his ceiling. It was plum colored with a curling flowery design. "I have you. I know you have my back. And Pepper. And I have the people at home. We might not talk, but I'm pretty sure they still wouldn't hesitate to put their life on the lines for me again." Harry said, smiling sadly, and knowing in his heart that it was true.

Tony didn't seem to be in a talkative mood after that and only nodded at Harry's words, frowning at him slightly and pushing his face back into the cushions. Harry only shook his head slightly and spent the next twenty minutes persuading Tony to check out his guest room bed because it was very comfy. He wanted to hit Tony over the head several times for his stubbornness throughout the short walk, even in his drunken state, but was finally able to haul him to the bed at about 3.

He shot Pepper a text explaining the whole thing, assuming that she had realized that the man was missing from his own birthday party. Turns out Pepper and Obadiah Stayne were looking for him all night. Harry was just thankful they hadn't stumbled upon his house. He still didn't know how Tony even knew where he lived, but ignored particular puzzle in favor of getting ready to wake up Tony, which happened around 10 the next morning. He had spent all night awake, watching some more Supernatural and then tidying up his bedroom a little bit. Downstairs, he locked up the cupboard with his old clothes and sports gear and placed a glass of water spiked with some Hangover Potion by Tony's bed.

That still left Tony incoherent for at least an hour, before the man insisted with grunts and gestures that Harry made him some coffee and breakfast, while he snored off on the counter on his kitchen. Harry didn't have the heart to refuse Tony, especially since he was a walking disaster and kept walking into the walls with co-ordination worse than a toddler. Plus, the fact that he hadn't got Tony a present of any kind, when the man cared so much about him, left Harry feeling a lot guiltier than it should have.

Another thing that bothered him was that he had heard a lot about Tony's drunken escapades from Pepper, and none of them included Tony silent on the morning after. It could be that Tony had had too much to drink last night than normal, or it could be that he remembered too much of the conversation from last night.

Harry didn't want to ponder that topic too much either so he focused on getting Tony out of his house before the man's speech came back to him to ask the inevitable questions. He was able to manage that around noon and when Tony stepped out into the living room, his gaze immediately went to the huge portrait above the fireplace.

"Was that there last night? And what are theeeeeeeese-?" Tony said interestedly, moving over to examine the photographs on the mantelpiece, and Harry remembered too late that it had one of his little Quidditch Trophies lying around on it too. He didn't have to pull Tony back or do some other ridiculous thing to get his attention away since the man turned to him with a confused look a few moments later - "Wait is there a slide in here somewhere or did I make a stop at someone else' house too?"

Harry grinned as he pointed to his right and Tony's eyes followed to the staircase and slide going up to his bedroom. He saw the man's eyebrows raise in surprise behind his sunglasses that he insisted on wearing indoors (and as a matter of fact had been wearing last night as well) as he let out a whistle at the sight, and then looked back at Harry with an amazed expression.

"Can I-"

"Nope. Definitely not like this. I'm pretty sure your stomach can't handle that and my carpet can't handle the aftermath of that." Harry said, moving over next to Tony as he literally whined like a baby and dug his heels into the carpet.

"But just once. It's sooo cool-"

"Tony. No, come on - I don't wanna call Pepper to come get you. We both know she'll kick your ass for this." Harry cut off, having to push the man a little towards the door, while he resisted like a petulant child. He eventually ended up hauling Tony to his car, which was miraculously parked perfectly in the driveway.

"Are you sure you can drive back? I can drive you-"

"Oh please. You're a spoilsport." Tony cut him off, sliding into his Audi R8 and starting the car with a low purr that made Harry melt a little inside. Harry hadn't ever bothered to find out what car Tony had, but now that he saw it - it looked like Draco Malfoy's wet dream.

"By the way, I am so getting that slide for my lab and Pepper is going to be so pissed, she'll have your ass, Potter."

With that Tony revved up the engine teasingly, and drove off, leaving Harry outside his door with widened eyes and - _Where the hell had Tony managed to pick up his last name?!_

Tony had apparently kept the surname to himself since over the next few days, he only witnessed Pepper coming in, looking haggard, muttering to him about slides and stairs and how Tony had finally gone out of his mind. She drilled Harry about information regarding that and Harry was very much affronted by the accusation that he was putting ideas in Tony's head. Pepper had left in disbelief, convinced that her nightmares had come true and that he and Tony had secretly banded together to annoy the life out of her and test her heart's abilities.

June arrived with a pleasant surprise for Harry - he received his first letter from Teddy. He was still at the cafe and had been cooking more than usual that month, mostly because Jon seemed to be taking days off occasionally. Harry didn't want to worry - the boy was still in his high school and it wasn't his place to ask questions, so when Caramel lied to him about Jon being sick, he just accepted the excuse, but didn't push. Anyway, it was one of those days and it was Jon's fifth day off within the first two weeks so Harry was really trying to keep his mind off that by cooking some more. He had come up for a breather when he spotted a large barn owl on his table.

The sight filled him with nostalgia and tightened his chest predictably and he fought to blink away the sudden wetness in his eyes. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, he blinked some more, and steadily untied the parchment attached to the bird's leg. The owl gave a soft hoot and Harry chuckled slightly at the sound, before fishing around his bottom drawer for old treats, something he kept stocked up on, now that Pig was with him. He often brought him along with him to the cafe in a huge pocket in his jacket and left him to twitter about in his office the whole day sometimes.

Anyway, when he read the letter, his stomach seemed to drop and do back-flips at the same time. Teddy wanted to visit him.

* * *

Harry had, of course, been kidding himself when he thought that Tony wouldn't dare to come to his house again. Because he did. It was sometime in mid-July when his bell rang, and he just assumed it was Justin, or his pal from the Floo Office - Jasper, who had helped to set up the Floo for last two weeks of August, when Teddy was coming. So he opened the door without hesitating about the moving pictures on his walls and had to wave his wand with a quick flick from within his sleeve after seeing that it was actually Tony.

"Hey, 'sup? You got some double latte?" Tony said, not bothering to be polite and wait for Harry to invite him in.

"Hello to you too, Tony. You know the shop is open right, but do come in." Harry said, walking into the kitchen with Tony following him, eyes roving around the walls again.

"I know I accidentally missed it while coming back and Pepper has been an absolute pain in the ass these past days." Tony grumbled, seating himself on one of the stools and resting his face on his palm, leveling Harry with a stare.

"Ah right. Pepper. God bless that woman." Harry chuckled, and let out a louder laugh when Tony humphed and threw a wayward napkin at him as Harry was preparing his coffee.

"Shut up you meanie. Anyway who's the pretty brunette in the photographs?" Tony said sounding interested as he stared at the picture of him, Ron and Hermione outside The Three Broomsticks a few years after the War. He had hung it up on the thin wooden separator facing the kitchen.

"That's my best friend." Harry snapped, without meaning to, and realizing too late how he had spoken.

"Alright alright. I'm not gonna violate her through a picture or anything. Just asking." Tony said, putting his hands up in surrender. "Ginger's a best friend too?" He said cautiously after a few moments of silence and put his hands back in the fake surrender position when Harry glared at him.

"D'you want me to pay?" Tony said, when Harry finally handed him a mug after a few more minutes of silence filled with Harry working and Tony tapping away on his phone.

"Shut up. You already overpay at the cafe the whole time. Don't get used to this stuff in house though." Harry muttered uncomfortably, but Tony seemed to catch it anyway.

"Okay okay." The man murmured before taking a sip of his drink and humming contentedly. "So who's Teddy?"

"My godson- Wait, what?"

"Letter on your refrigerator - who even uses letters these days? And Godson? How old are you really, Potter?"

"Tony. There is a concept called privacy and since you don't seem to have heard about it, you need to get the fuck out of my house. And how the hell did you even know my name?"

"Oh that. I bribed Caramel. Your documents are still sealed by the way. I swear your staff is of no use. That's a hundred dollars I won't see again."

Harry knew now that Justin hadn't sealed the documents, so he was pretty sure they were redacted by Kingsley from his muggle handle. He knew for a fact that he had inside men in almost every muggle organisation, especially the secret ones.

Tony, in the meantime, had moved to the living room, Harry following him after a minute. What he saw made his stomach drop and a rush of irritation climbed into his chest.

"Tony - what the fuck?" He said, roughly grabbing hold of the stupid high-tech phone in his hands, one that he was using to click pictures of his mantelpiece. Tony looked at him with an annoying smirk, and made to take his phone back when Harry moved his hand away.

"I was just trying to get a few pictures to run facial scans. Maybe I can find something on your friends-"

The thought was ridiculous but Harry knew his words were probably true, "If my documents are sealed, you aren't getting anywhere near theirs either, Tony."

"And you are seriously starting to piss me off." He continued when Tony whined. He made to grab the phone again, when Harry oh-so-accidentally dropped Tony's phone in the slow burning coals.

"Oops." Harry deadpanned as Tony's mouth flashed open in horror.

"That was - I designed that - It was my latest model!" Tony exclaimed, staring at Harry with a murderous glare, and Harry bit his lip to prevent grinning at finally one-upping Tony.

"I'm sure you'll live. Plus it wasn't really that good either - make them fire and heat resistant next time. Off you go then." He quipped happily, trying to control his grin as Tony's face remained sour as he turned around.

"You're an asshole. A complete fucking scumbag. I don't know how you manage to pull the wool on others's eyes, but I got you Potter."

"Does that mean I get to call you Stark?" Harry grinned, walking Tony out to his car, as he kept scowling to himself.

"I'm gonna get you back, Potter. Just you wait. I swear on Dummy's incompetent little CPU." Tony said threateningly before entering his car, leaving Harry to stand outside his house confusedly, again

"What the hell is Dummy?"

* * *

 **Broke up this chapter into two parts. Hope it's a good ending tho. Review please! XO**


	6. It's Your Legacy, Teddy Bear

**Chapter 6: It's Your Legacy, Teddy Bear**

* * *

 _ **Music Recommendation: Sugar by Maroon 5**_

* * *

If Harry was going to be honest, he was really fucking anxious about Teddy coming to meet him. First of all, Andy and Teddy would have to Apparate all the way, since Andy refused to get on a flight with Teddy so excited that he could blow a hole in the plane accidentally.

Then, when he had finally got his head around having Teddy around the house for a day, asking questions left and right, prodding things, poking at pictures and changing his hair at an alarming rate, he had to put Teddy to sleep. Which was a nightmare in it's own, for the boy seemed to think that he was on a vacation and so his normal bedtime didn't apply.

And then, somehow, Harry had ended up in the guest bed, with Teddy laying half over him, hair a somewhat familiar blond.

"Missing your Uncle Drake with me? Should I be insulted?" Harry said quietly, making sure to make his voice teasing. Teddy snorted in return, laying still for a few seconds while his hair turned jet black.

"Happy now?" He asked and Harry chuckled shortly in reply. "And I wasn't missing him. I just really like his shade of hair. D'you know he still refuses to hug me?"

That made Harry laugh outright and he remembered with a flash, clear like it was yesterday - Teddy's fifth birthday party. Andy had invited over everyone for a dinner rivaling Mrs. Weasley's and Draco had met his nephew for the first time. Everyone knew that the two had hit it off and Draco had fell in love immediately, even though he refused to accept it and did and said anything to salvage his tough Malfoy exterior while letting little Teddy crawl all over him. Literally. He refused hugs, refused to eat the cake unless Teddy fed him himself and it had become an honorary tradition from then on that the days following Teddy's birthday were the ones he sported blonde hair exclusively. He saw all through Draco's tough exterior even when he was growing up and called him 'Uncle Drake' deliberately even though Draco hated it and whined that it made him feel old.

Draco, similarly, never missed a birthday ever since and spoiled Teddy with expensive gifts and toys and mostly anything that the boy even thought of wanting.

"Tell me more." Harry said eventually, remembering too late to mask the longing in his voice as he felt Teddy move above him.

"Do you miss us?" He asked quietly, like he was almost scared for the answer. Harry felt the pain rise in his throat before it prickled at his eyes, "Yes. Loads." He replied, clearing his voice after since it sounded too gravelly.

Teddy nodded through the dark and lay his head back down on top of Harry. "Me too. And everyone else. Especially Aunt Hermione. Uncle Drake too, even though he doesn't say it." Of course he wouldn't, the smity prick.

Harry felt himself smile, it felt good to know that he was missed, even though he had wanted to hope for the opposite. His brain told him it was wrong, but his heart disagreed and couldn't help pumping a bit more happily, even though it meant even Teddy could notice that Hermione missed him. But then he had always been a perceptive kid.

It was almost half an hour later, when Harry was pretty sure that Teddy had passed out from the exhaustion of the day and travel that the boy spoke again.

"Do you think I'm old enough? To know?" He said quietly, unnaturally still.

Harry didn't need any more words to understand what Teddy was asking. He took his time to answer, preparing his words carefully.

"When you go to Hogwarts, it'll be a whole different world there, Ted. It was for me, but I guess not as much for you since you already know everything there is to know. I just want you to... I want you to remember that the rumors are not always true. You don't have to believe what anyone tells you, just because you feel you can't ask me or Andy or someone else. They might not answer but- I promise that I will. If someone else refuses to answer one of your queries, just remember that it's for a reason, okay? If you ask me - I promise to answer truthfully. But I'll urge you to prepare yourself for the answers and be sure that you can handle them when you ask me something. Are you getting my point? Do you understand?"

He felt Teddy nod vigorously, and tried in vain to still his pounding heart. Teddy was a smart boy - Harry had to trust him on this.

"This becomes a huge responsibility on your shoulders, alright? You have to take care what you ask and if you really want to know. I want to trust that you're old enough to realise this. Can I?"

"Yes Harry. I understand."

It was a faint whisper, but Harry could hear the sincerity in his voice. Moving slightly, he pressed his lips to Teddy's hair, and moved from the bed.

"Now go to sleep. I think this is enough for tonight. Don't stay up thinking too much, okay? We're going out tomorrow." He said, tucking the boy in the bed, like he used to when he was younger. Harry was still getting used to Teddy being old enough to observe and figure things out, and giving him permission to ask questions, specific questions, was a huge step in the direction of honing himself to get used to the older Teddy.

"We're going out of town? I thought you ran a shop here?" Teddy said, moving up from beneath his covers. Harry could tell through the dark that he was frowning.

"Yeah I'll close up for a few days so we can travel around and I can show some other- what?" Teddy was shaking his head, pulling his covers off and sitting up in the bed properly.

"But I thought we'd go to the shop. You said you had this cool staff and all kinds of new tea too. Is this because- Do you not want me to meet them? Your friends here?"

"Wait you want to meet them? I thought -" Well, Harry had thought that Teddy would hate the cafe and not want to see a glimpse of his life here - since that was what had drew him away from them. In his eyes, at least.

"Of course I want to meet them! They're your friends. Only if I'm allowed to of course." Teddy went on, sounding more hopeful than Harry had realised. Huh.

"I'll behave. I promise." He added desperately, and Harry could see that Teddy would pull more tricks until he agreed.

"Alright. Sure. I'll ring up the others and tell them to come. You sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah-uh. It's a cafe you own Harry! I can bet it'll be awesome. And you said one of them was still in high school - I can't wait to make a muggle friend. He can tell me all about high schools-"

"Yes okay okay. Go to sleep now, seriously or we'll have to cancel tomorrow and just stay in because you'll be tired as hell. Come on."

Harry had to fuss around for a couple of minutes and kissed Teddy's forehead twice before finally leaving and heading to his own bed, a nervous pit growing in his stomach with every minute as he realised what the next day would bring.

* * *

"Morning Harry- Aand… Who's this?" Caramel gave Harry a searching look before looking curiously at Teddy, who moved forward to look at her, but didn't leave Harry's side.

"Teddy, this is Caramel. My right hand man and second in command. My first mate." He grinned down at his godson, ushering him forward to shake hands.

"Caramel, meet my godson Teddy Lupin."

"God- oh. Wow- I mean, Hi Teddy!" She composed herself with a big grin and shook Teddy's hand quickly, just as Jon and Clark made their way over.

"Who's this young man?"

"Harry's godson Teddy." Caramel replied immediately and both Clark and Jon looked simultaneously surprised.

"Well well, look at that. How old are ya Teddy? This is your first time in LA?" Jon began and Harry moved ahead towards the counter to get started on things. Jade didn't look like he was showing up anytime soon since it was already almost opening, so it was on Harry today to take orders.

He watched as Jon and Clark chatted with Teddy, who answered their harmless questions enthusiastically, before Clark left to continue setting up the place and Jon went back to his first batch of muffins, Teddy following him, talking the whole time.

The two remained busy up until early afternoon, when Teddy finally remembered that Harry existed. "Keeping busy?" He said as Teddy joined him, clambering over the top of the counter he wasn't technically supposed to sit on.

"Yeah- Jon is great! He told me about school and stuff and he taught me how to bake a blueberry muffin!"

"Nice. You're not allowed to use the kitchen alone yet. You know that, right?"

Teddy rolled his eyes in a very Tonks way, and Harry's throat constricted a little, but Teddy was already talking.

"Of course I do. I know the basics anyway - I'm not five anymore Harry. I bet I can help out around he-"

"No." The word was out of his mouth before Harry could think twice. Teddy's brow furrowed immediately, and he looked ready to scowl. "Why?"

Harry had no actual answer to that, except something along the lines of not getting too attached or something. He was, however, saved by a girl's voice at the counter.

"Heyy… so do you guys sell coffee and stuff 'cause I really couldn't tell by the sign on the door and I don't see a menu around…"

Harry nodded towards Teddy to get off the counter, which he did, a frown still on his face, and Harry sighed.

He bent down to the boy's ear and whispered, "Go check out my office upstairs. There's sugar quills in the third drawer." He ended with a light kiss to his temple as Teddy's face brightened up considerably.

He nodded once and took off into the side hallway like a bullet. "Slowly!" Harry shouted behind him, before finally turning his attention to the girl, who was now wearing a pretty smile. Wow.

He hadn't noticed but she was really pretty, especially smiling like that with her doe eyes bright.

"He yours?" She said, nodding towards the hallway.

"No, uh- He's my godson." He said, then fished out a stack of menus. "Clark! Put these in the rack, they're all finished again." Clark rushed out of nowhere and grabbed the stack, hurriedly placing it in the rack by the door before continuing his errands.

Harry handed the girl a menu and smiled politely after she took it and offered her hand, "Hi. I'm Skye. New here - love what youve done with the place, by the way." She nodded appreciatively behind her.

Harry tried to control the blush, he really did, but failed spectacularly when he felt his cheeks burn anyway. "Hi, uh Harry. I'm Harry and yeah, thanks."

He thought about her name for a second - it sounded suspiciously made-up.

"Skye?" He echoed back, and she must have caught his tone, because she made a face before replying.

"Well the name the kids at the orphanage gave me wasn't very fancy so… why not Skye?" She shrugged lightly, and her body language was relaxed, but her smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Oh, right." Harry replied, feeling like an absolute dick now for bringing it up.

"But hey, it's okay. I'm out of New York now, in this fair city - which I have to admit I don't know much about. How long have you been living here? I'm assuming you own the place."

"Oh yeah this is mine. I've been here uh- three… maybe four years? Yeah. So you've just moved?"

"Yep. A few months ago so I'm still relatively new. Never stumbled across this place ever, but whaao - like nice job with this. It's totally my kind of hang back." She said with an appreciative grin tossed his way, before looking over the menu.

"Well I'm glad you like it and you're always welcome to hang around. On that note, I'd like to offer you the first drink on the house." He smirked at the girl's pleasantly surprised expression, but then she smiled brightly.

This one crinkled her eyes a bit.

"Well then, Harry, since you're taking this hit, and I don't know what's your special- why don't you recommend something?" She asked politely enough, but then tucked her hair back a bit shyly, grinning all the same.

"It'd be my pleasure. Grab a seat, I'll bring something special." He couldn't stop grinning. What the hell?

"Awesome!"

Three hours later and Skye was still in her seat, Teddy crushed in beside her, both concentrating on the laptop screen. Harry had introduced them once Teddy had climbed back after almost emptying his stash and now the kid was high on sugar. Skye had seemed incredibly amused at the babbling kid and offered him to show his computer. That was two hours ago.

He wasn't sure what exactly they were doing but it definitely wasn't games or cartoons as both of them seemed to be typing and talking occasionally.

He had only talked to Skye an hour before that and had learnt that she was a genius - Tony level genius- Techie. Harry didn't really know what he would do if his godson became obsessed with computers and electronics.

Another hour later, and the pair had still made no move to give up whatever they were doing, so Harry went over with another cup of a hot latte for Skye. Maybe he could convince her to be babysitter for Teddy if the two had developed such fine tuning in the few hours they were together.

"Should I even ask? Will I understand?" He asked, moving towards the back of the armchair after handing Skye the large cup.

"No Harry, you with your technology stunted mind won't get this but goddamn Teddy is a freaking genius. Where did you find him? Have you done illegal experiments on him? Just tell me because this kid is not normal the way he understands tech."

Teddy grinned brightly at the praise and Skye's animated words, but ducked his head to hide it.

"Well that sounds nice. I had no idea he was so talented with these contraptions. And no I didn't do experiments on him, for Gods sake Skye." He said, rolling his eyes at her bright smile, trying hard not to return it.

"Seriously though. How long you here, Ted?"

"Uh end of August." He said, after a confirming nod from Harry.

"Well then we are going to have fun. You interested in touching in some further CS sometime? I'm definitely coming back here soon."

Teddy looked excited at the idea, so when he looked at Harry for silent permission, Harry just smiled at him.

"Sure! I'd love it. Harry won't let me help around here so I can just pass the time with this in the meantime! It's so awesome, especially the signal byepass you developed-"

"Whoa- Heyy can't go talking about our secret work now, Ted." She said, turning an arm around his shoulder, and giving it a little squeeze with a short conspiratorial wink. Harry had no idea what that was about, but then Skye picked up her laptop and stuffed it into her bag, turning to him.

"Well Harry. Expect me to keep showing up all the time now because that latte was like oh my god. I feel like I should kiss Jon for that cake but I don't want to risk him fainting or something. He's still in high school right?"

"Yeah." Harry laughed out, but it died in his throat when Skye hoisted her bag up and quickly pecked him on the cheek.

"Thanks for the coffee today. See you." She said, eyes mostly downcast but flicking up to him nervously. He could only feel a patch of heat brighten up his cheeks, the left one more than right.

"Yeah. See you." He shouldn't have spoken, because his voice sounded weird and wavering because apparently he was grinning too big, and because Skye was blushing a slight shade of pink when she finally left with a soft tinkle of bells.

The rest of the week had passed in a blur and Teddy had charmed his way through almost all of Harry's… friends. Pepper and Tony had arrived on Teddy's third day, and had only managed to get introduced with him since they were in a hurry. Tony seemed very intent on staying and talking to Teddy more, but Pepper had dragged him away. He had come back the next day and had talked to Teddy under Harry's strict supervision, lest he tried to get some information out of the boy.

But Harry realized it was all for nothing, since Teddy seemed to have developed a rather sudden and passionate interest in all things electronic. He had listen to Tony rambling on and explaining things for three hours straight, barely talking. Harry had a feeling Tony would get along swimmingly with Skye too, and he didn't know how he felt about that yet.

By the next day, Teddy had already received a Stark phone from Tony, purely for the purpose of dismantling it and putting it together again and again. Tony had told him later that he had designed it specially for Teddy, age controls and all. Harry had been grateful, but as usual, didn't know how to tell that to Tony without making it awkward.

The rest of the two weeks passed by in a blur, with Tony dropping by randomly, staying for more time within those two weeks than he had stayed the last few years combined. Skye sat talking with Teddy for a long hours at a time, and the boy seemed to enjoy the learning process immensely. Skye had given Teddy a little notebook with some handwritten codes as a departing present, which Teddy seemed delighted to have. She had winked conspiringly again, and the two had shared a giggle, which Harry had rolled his eyes at.

He was getting used to having Skye around the shop, especially the familiar scene of her busy with Teddy and a laptop. She waved and smiled all the time, and Harry felt inexplicably drawn to her light. Sometimes it felt like she was pulling him in with a string, all good things he imagined in a woman, just sitting there, waiting for him to indulge in.

Harry pushed thoughts of Skye and her innocent bright smile out of his head, and focused on getting Teddy on the train. King's Cross station was packed as usual, and Harry felt Nostalgia grip his insides as he looked around at the painfully familiar scene. But Ron and Hermione, his only constants, weren't there and he was here to see Teddy off. They had to do an in and out job because Andy would start getting recognized from among the mass of people, and Harry's presence, even with the long bearded and wrinkled disguise, could be questioned. So they had arrived last minute, just in time for the boy to catch the train.

For the first time in a while, Teddy looked nervous as he fixed his trunk's strap, and then combed a finger through his hair. He was sporting Harry's hair and eyes deliberately - saying it calmed him. Harry had told him there was nothing to be nervous about, but then he could also understand the boy's nervous excitement regarding the day. First train ride to Hogwarts wasn't something that happened every day.

Bending down to Teddy's level after his luggage was on the train, Harry ruffled his hair one last time before quickly pulling out the familiar blank sheet of parchment from his jacket. Teddy's eyes gleamed suddenly as he took it in, and Harry realized that George must have said something about this.

"Holy shit!" Teddy exclaimed in a hurried, hushed voice, awe on his face. Thankfully, Andy didn't seem to have heard, for it was mostly Harry's fault for exposing Teddy to questionable language at the café.

"Ted." Harry admonished just as quietly, deciding to hurry up as he heard the whistle. "And yes holy shit is right. And this is yours now, since it's your legacy. Just promise that you won't bug Neville too much and Andy won't receive too many letters."

"I solemnly swear!" He exclaimed, grinning like the Cheshire cat, and Harry could suddenly spot a young Remus Lupin in the boy's features.

"Get on, Teddy. Goodbye, write to me and stay safe." Andy swooped in suddenly with a kiss at the last whistle. Teddy quickly climbed into a door seconds before the train started moving. Harry still hadn't let go of Teddy's hand.

"Don't stay up too late, okay? And don't give McGonagall much trouble either, and write to me! And take care of yourself too!" Harry was jogging along the train as he shouted the words to an enthusiastically waving Teddy, resisting the urge to run along like Sirius had done at the start of his fifth year.

Eventually, he stopped and waved with a huge grin, even though his throat constricted and his eyes burned by the time the train turned the bend.

* * *

 **How's the surprise? I will post an edited chapter and politer AN later when I dont feel like murdering someone I swear. Till then, review or something? How's the wild card? How do people feel about Quake/Potter? Quotter? Puake? Hell yes.**


	7. Quarter Chinese

**Chapter 7: Quarter Chinese**

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 _ **Music Recommendation: Drugs by EDEN**_

* * *

The last months of 2009 passed in a blur. All Harry remembered was missing Teddy and being nervous about his godson at Hogwarts. He didn't know what the public thought of his disappearance or how it affected his reputation or the rumors about his past shenanigans. The letters he eventually received were full of a disbelieving Teddy about tales of trolls, dementors, basilisks and some rather impossible quidditch feats. Harry promised to answer and explain everything in person, which made Teddy even more determined to come to Harry's for Christmas, which both Harry and Andy revolted against passionately.

Eventually, Harry celebrated Christmas alone, with the exception of that lone trip he made every year. His and Hermione's old tradition of going to Godric's Hollow hadn't been abandoned, they just did it separately now. He arrived early on Christmas Eve, and visited his parents' and the Dumbledore's graves, since he supposed Dumbledore couldn't do it himself. And then he would hide somewhere and wait for her. And she would come and notice the wreaths already there, and add her own on the four graves. All the previous three times Harry had tried to pluck up the courage to go and talk, but something always held him back, and he stayed in the shadows, watching her visit the War memorial, his parents' house and Bathilda Bagshot's house in the same order they had done every year since 1998. Well, technically 1997, but oh well.

Then he would visit the noisy and crowded pub and somehow, despite his tradition, no one except the barkeeper was aware of his presence. There he would drink his sorrows, and spend the night in one of the Inn's rooms upstairs, sending his unopened Christmas presents back to Grimmauld Place with Kreacher, who learned to bring him a good breakfast after the first time it happened.

January melted into February, and 2010 had been looking up so far – Caramel was less bossy than usual, Jon looked more tired which ended in the siblings fighting less, Clark was his usual chirpy and nose-poking self who still invited too many of his friends to the place in lieu of free coffee, and Jade – well, Jade was a lot calmer than usual. The four had, of course, bonded rather closely and somehow, it had become tradition to spend at least one night every month hanging together with everyone's college buddies invited over to Clark's flat, which was surprisingly spacious.

The last two months had featured Skye joining in on the rather raucous nights, smiling happily and mixing up with everyone easily, looking to Harry like she was literally the light of the room. The amount of chatting and slip-ups that Harry uttered around her had become rather ridiculous and he would even go so far as to say that she knew the most out of everyone else from among his acquaintances. Or friends. Whatever.

February 25th was the day that Caramel had flippantly informed Harry that she'd set him up on a date, and he was supposed to appear at a Chinese restaurant at eight that night. It wasn't an unusual thing for her to do but Harry was still rather surprised since she hadn't pulled something like that since a few months ago, when he had stood up one of her good friends – Hayley or something. It made Harry ponder his love life again, thinking of Skye and how he would have loved to just spend a relaxing evening with her, finally get the guts up to find out how her lips would feel against his, or more….

Well, as it was, Harry abandoned the thought, arguing mentally that now was not the time. But then, when was the time? A voice suspiciously like Caramel's wondered, and he considered it. It had now been almost three years since he'd left, and they had passed by in a whirlwind, and he had not had a serious relationship since three years before that. Occasional, careful one-night stands kept him sane, and even though he successfully barred attempts for a second time with anyone, he sometimes felt too lonely. Sure, he had contact with Teddy and Andy and May 2nd passed somehow in a haze of alcohol and flashbacks, but his life now seemed like one long stretch of discarded phone numbers and rejected dates.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Harry pulled on his helmet and drove into town, heading for the cozy little Chinese place a few blocks away from MM. He entered, trying to shake off the moisture on his jacket, and before he had started looking for the prospective girl, he noticed _her_.

"Caramel." They groaned in unison as a way of explanation, Skye shaking her head with a small smile.

"I knew she looked too innocent when offering up a blind date with that much enthusiasm." She said eventually, a bemused smile on her lips as her eyes raked over his nervous figure standing unsurely by the table.

Thoughts were going rampant in Harry's head, mostly a lot of curses directed towards Caramel and her too bloody observant brother. In the back of his mind though, the same voice was screaming at him to grab at the opportunity with both hands, and he decided to oblige himself, hoping that Skye wouldn't think it was too weird, though her expression said otherwise. She seemed to be very amused with his silent struggle.

"Might as well as do this…" He muttered to himself, shedding his jacket and sitting down on the chair opposite to Skye, who couldn't seem to stop staring at him.

"Y'know you don't have to… if you're not comfortable, with this." She said, indicating between them over the table, in a slightly downtrodden voice, probably playing off of his bitter expression.

"No! No… I mean, well – I, uh, meant to, sooner or later, but it's good that Caramel did anyway." He stuttered out finally, with a shy smile. Skye's grin lightened and she trilled out a slight laugh.

"You mean it would've taken you another few months to grow a pair and finally do something about it?" She mocked, and his face burned as his heart sped up slightly. He hoped she didn't think he was a complete spineless goner because he couldn't ask out a girl properly.

"Well, yeah." He smiled self-deprecatingly, "I'm not very good at… well, this." He copied her action to indicate between them, and she nodded understandingly. She didn't say anything but something in her face prompted him to keep talking.

"I haven't had to ask someone out since I was fifteen. Things have just… somehow, happened for me after that. And I haven't met someone I actually wanted to date for a long while, before you came along, of course."

"It's alright. I haven't either, in case you were wondering. My last relationship was me trying long-distance with someone I'd dated for a few months, and it didn't work too well. So… here were are."

Harry nodded in understanding. "I'm glad she did it though. Caramel." He said with a soft smile and Skye grinned back, coloring slightly.

"Should we order something? I always suspect I might be half or quarter Chinese, at least."

"Really? That's… something. I did know my ancestry, though probably not as well Hermione would have wanted me to. Still don't know much about my parents, of course."

"Except that they went to the same school and got married right out of school, which is fucking adorable, if you ask me." She nodded sagely, throwing back more proof for why he should be minding his mouth tonight. He shook his head at her as they quickly ordered something that they'd only eaten for takeout before.

"I think Chinese is meant purely for takeout purposes. It'll feel weird eating it out, right?" Skye immediately after ordering.

"I was thinking the same thing actually." He said, and he hailed over a server as an idea struck him. He told the man to make the order for takeout, then turned to Skye.

"How do you feel about Cranberry flavored cookies?" He asked and she raised her eyebrows with her ever present smile.

"We're going to MM?"

"Of course not! My house. I'm trying my hand at them, how'd you like to taste 'em? Only if you're comfortable, of course." He shrugged into his jacket as Skye rolled her eyes as response and copied his movements, and they patiently waited for their packed order to arrive. He took it as a good sign that an excited sparkle had entered her eyes at his mention of home. He realized it might have been because not many of his friends or staff, except Tony, had been there, or even knew where it was.

They were steadily talking about Teddy when everything was packed to go and Harry watched Skye eye the bike with the widest grin she had supported tonight. He slid into his seat easily and offered his helmet to her, which she denied, looking slightly mad with her eyes sparkling in the dim light of the parking lot.

"Are you okay?" He asked, as he waited for her to climb on behind him. She did so, shaking slightly, as she replied, "It feels like an insane adventure sport or something, getting on this thing."

"I'll go slow if you want?" He enquired, but she shook her head, making a negative sound, moving her hands to grip his waist. He might or might not have shook slightly as he felt the contact and his stomach flipped over into itself as he felt his heart quicken again.

He kicked the engine into a roar and drove off into the busy traffic, which thinned to barely a car or two as they reached the highway.

"Can we stop for a minute?" Came Skye's shouted request a few minutes later, and Harry slowed the bike to a stop carefully, before removing the helmet and turning his face to ask her, "Everything alright?"

She replied by getting off the bike and looking at the scene to their left, where the landscape was barely visible, but a vast expanse of the sky shimmered brightly. It was an unusually bright night. He could make out Skye gleaming silvery near him, and he had the sudden urge to haul her up the bike and kiss her senseless so that those wondrous eyes would train on him.

"It's nice, isn't it?" She said, turning to him, with those beautiful eyes reflecting the stars and he nodded dumbly, getting off himself to stand by her and appreciate the scene.

It was calmly silent and comfortable for a while, and he heard her shuffle slightly closer.

"Harry?" She whispered, still looking through the slight darkness.

"Hmm?"

"What happened to Teddy's parents?"

Harry's heart skipped a beat and he straightened from the bike in a sudden movement. Skye turned to look at him with the earnest expression he knew so well now, and waited.

He gazed at her for a while, contemplating. This was the moment, wasn't it? He had to make his decision of whether he would be going all out in this… relationship, or would eventually either abandon it or be abandoned. He couldn't bear to think about putting the full weight of his sorrow, his darkness on her shoulders, but then, she blinked at him, her expression patient and eyes still twinkling merrily. If someone could take it, or understand, even parts of it, for some reason, he felt like it would be her.

Harry looked away as he said, "They died when he was little." Perhaps it was the bitter tone to his words, or his hardened voice that prompted her to move her hand over his own, which clenched into a fist. She loosened it slowly and slipped her hand through to hold his. The most soothing feeling of calmness stole through him and he felt he could stand here forever in silence, or keep talking forever, as long as she would be there to share it.

"Did you know his father or mother?" She said again, murmuring the words slightly closer to his ear.

"Both." He replied, easily recalling Remus and Tonks radiating happiness together in one of their wedding pictures. "Remus was one of my Dad's best friends and my teacher in third year. Best teacher I ever had." He said with relish, "Met Tonks in fifth year, she was related to my Dad's other best friend, Sirius, my godfather. Second cousin or something but she was a hoot to be around. And she had the brightest bubble-gum pink hair you could imagine…"

When they finally reached home, finished dinner, and dessert, which included a thorough helping of Apple pie and some experimental Cranberry flavored cookies, Harry settled into his old couch with a glass of Elf Wine, which Skye had made a face at first, but quickly emptied her glass. As he watched her move around the living-slash-drawing room, to the pictures on the mantelpiece, he vaguely wondered what it was about her that drew him so much.

It was like something brewed just below the surface, almost coming out to show him, like his magic was attracted to it. And whatever 'it' was, seemed to like his magic and was almost ready to react to it. Skye's absence of knowledge about her parents made him wonder if she might have been a squib, abandoned but then, he had some experience when it came to detecting magic, and it wasn't that, inside her.

"Are these Hermione and Ron?" She said from in front of the slow embers, and he was jerked out his thoughts. Brought unpleasantly to reality, he remembered again, one of his slip-ups in those monthly parties, when he had said he did have best friends, thank you very much. Everyone had dropped it at his tone, except of course, Skye, who had proceeded to ask him their names, where they were now and why he didn't talk to them. He had shrugged and answered the questions calmly, after which she had left him alone.

He nodded at her, getting up to stand beside her, gazing at the many now-still photographs that adorned the mantelpiece and the wall space around it. She moved her hand slightly again, touching his right this time, and the scars on them seemed to tingle as her hand moved to brush her fingers over them. He gave a barely detectable flinch.

They had yet to discuss his scars. He could tell she was curious, of course, when he had finally got rid of his jumper while cooking, and the scars on his hand and forearm were thrown into relief.

"You're unnaturally pale, did you know?" She had remarked after staring for a second too long, and no more questions had been asked.

Presently, she seemed to remember and gripped his hand lightly to move it up. Slowly, he was guided to his own couch and she tilted his hand sideways to read.

"Sadistic toad of a teacher." He muttered breathlessly as her warm breath fell on his fingers, when she breathed "'I must not tell lies…'"

Slowly, her hands trailed up to the same forearm, where the two puncture marks were thrown into relief by the fire. "Snake bite." He whispered, looking at the frown in her forehead.

Unbidden, he touched the frown with his left forefinger, moving them away as the crease cleared and their breathing quickened at the same time. He ghosted his hand slightly over her perfect features – her brown doe eyes, deep caramel in the reflected firelight, dark red cheeks, blushing prettily, and his thumb finally rested at her lips, parted slightly as she looked at him with an unidentifiable expression.

Before he knew it, his fingers were tracing her jaw and he was pressing his lips to hers. His chest soared as he tasted the wine on her lips, and he felt her hands move to his shoulders, and she was kissing back, pliant and slow under his hands, and then he was moving forward, wanting to feel her against him, aligned perfectly.

It was a while before he came up for air, breathing deeply, hovering over her. He opened his eyes, realizing in doing so that he had closed them in the first place, and gazed at her, probably very sappily, fighting the happy smile that threatened to break out on his face when he noticed that she was gasping for breath too and smiling brighter than the sun.

"Been wanting to do that for a long time." He murmured lowly, gazing at her swollen lips, which twitched invitingly again.

"Me too. I think I want to do it again…" She replied, smirking hungrily at his lips, and he obliged, bending downwards to capture her lips in a kiss fiercer than the last. She was gripping his hair, fingers grazing his scalp deliciously, which elicited a throaty groan from him. It was all he could do to not make a move to get rid of his clothes at once, remembering that he wanted this to be perfect, slow. His moan was rewarded with her parting lips and suddenly, everything was much louder and dirtier.

He pulled back after a few seconds of mind-numbing want, but not completely and punctuated each of his words with an open-mouthed kiss on her neck and shoulders, leading slowly downwards, "Want – to – say – something – before – doing – something –"

He felt her push backwards slowly and complied, sitting up, and Skye climbed onto his lap, dress hitching over her legs. He clutched her hips and she kissed him hard once again, leaving him slightly dazed about what exactly he wanted to talk about.

"Right. Um – Yeah." He stuttered, staring at her mussed hair and swollen red lips, before shaking his head.

"Skye. I – You need to know some things about me. I'm not – There's a reason I don't… date or go out with other people. Why my friends are not here. Why –"

"Why you have this stupid hairstyle covering that scar on your forehead?" She said, cutting him off into shocked silence. A small flutter of panic rose in his chest, but she moved her hand to brush away the overgrown hair on the said scar, staring at it for a second before tracing his face, and continuing, "Or why you don't talk to Ron and Hermione and the others from home? Or why you keep that bird locked up in your office? Or why the third drawer has sweets looking like quills of all things? Or why you don't touch your phone at all? Or why you keep a knife cutter in your back pocket at all times? Or why you hate journalists and newspapers? Or why there are no school or class photos in your house? Or no proof that your life existed after your teen years? Or why you sometimes speak like you're far older than you look?"

She moved to sit beside him as she continued, and he stared at her, shocked. He belatedly realized that she had broken into his office but it didn't bother him as much as it should have.

"Or why you wore only full sleeves even in the summer heat?" She said again, grazing the scars on his hand, raising an eyebrow. He nodded slightly, and opened his mouth, but it was a while before words formed.

"Or why I can't have a proper normal relationship. Why I don't sleep most nights –"

"– So what? I don't either –"

"– Or why I have nightmare almost every day!" He exclaimed, wanting her to understand the problem, the danger of even sitting in this house with him.

"And before you say you have them too – mine are real. Every last one of them. I haven't told you, or anybody why I – why all those things –"

He sighed, dropping his eyes pathetically to stare at the fire. How could he explain? How had he ever deluded himself into thinking he could do this?

"There are weeks when I don't sleep. Caffeine is the only thing that makes me move. And there are days I can't sleep – the nightmares, the flashbacks - the noises won't _stop_!" He growled, clutching his head as he realized he was ruining it. Ruining the only thing he had wanted so dearly…

"Hey." She whispered, taking one of his hands, and he dared to look at her: she was frowning slightly.

"How… how about we take this slowly? You have stuff you need to tell me. That's okay. I'm here for it all." She said bracingly, her voice hopeful, as she added, "If you want me to be."

"Of course I do." He replied immediately, folding his hand tighter over hers. "I'm just – I don't want you to think…"

"I'm scared too." She said slowly, caressing his hand with her thumb, "But your problems don't scare me. You don't scare me. This scares me. It's the first time I've wanted anything so much… But I'm not gonna chicken out."

"Good." Harry said finally, after staring into her resilient eyes. "Because I'm scared shitless too. And I'm glad you know where I stand. I'm new to this and… and I just want to say that when the surprises are too much for you… When it becomes too dark for you to handle, just say the words and I'll disappear out of your life. Out of your memories even, if you want it."

Her eyes widened slightly, but her grip did not slacken and he went on, making sure everything was out in the open.

"And some things have no explanation. No answers. There are some questions I simply cannot answer and… and the biggest of those problems… lies… is that I'm actually much older than I look." He said, gauging her reaction carefully. A frown formed on her face and she seemed determined not to appear shocked, no matter what he said.

"I'm going to turn thirty in July." He blurted out, watching her eyes widened considerably.

"What?!" She exclaimed, clutching his hand harder than before, and he winced slightly, but nodded.

"That's impossible!" She said again, blinking and looking carefully at him. Harry felt the comfort leave him as waves of panic hit him, what would happen now? He was surely doomed. But then, it couldn't be helped – this was the most important thing to be shared right now.

"Are you – like a vampire or something?" She said, frown deepening as if seriously doubting him.

"No. I stopped ageing at 17, yes, but not because I'm a vampire. I can't stomach the sight of blood for one." He chuckled at her reaction, but the panic didn't drop it's claws.

"So – so you're not going to kill me and drink my blood right now, right?" She asked suspiciously, and she actually looked doubtful, which made another nervous laugh bubble up out of him.

"No, but I'll understand if you want to – well, if you don't want to do – see me again –"

"Shut up. It's not about that. Just let me wrap my head around it." She said immediately, relaxing her death grip on his hand, but no letting go. And all that mattered, as they kissed later on, and she challenged him to produce birth papers to prove his age, and they barely talked the rest of the night, is that she didn't let go.

* * *

"But you are human, right?" Skye said, lazily sprawled beside him on the couch, where they had just finished another heavy snogging session.

It had been three months since the first time Harry had kissed her, and the memory still made him tingle slightly. Being in a relationship was unlike anything Harry had ever thought. Especially with Skye, the best thing was that she didn't remind him of Ginny, even though the two surprisingly shared many core qualities.

Caramel had practically fainted with disbelief the next day, when Skye had entered the café and Harry had casually greeted her with a kiss. The rest of his staff were fawning over them soon and they had been too glad to retire to office to continue their greeting. They had, of course, blabbed to everyone else and Harry had faced a minor heart attack when Pepper had casually asked how she was doing.

It had reminded Harry of all the unprecedented dangers of being him, or being with him, and he had faced a minor crisis again, wondering if he should be putting all these people at risk by even being here. What if someone from the older chapters in his life decided to have another shot at the Boy-Who-Lived? Even though he had taken every precaution possible, he himself knew there were loopholes in the life he was living and the largest of them was Teddy.

He hadn't calmed until Skye was with him, holding his face and reassuring him that it was all going to be alright, and he didn't need to leave. During such times, he wasn't sure what all he had revealed to her in moments of delusion, but so far, it had only been this one incident, and she wasn't running for the hills yet.

"Yes, I am human. Thank you very much." He replied presently, shifting slightly to grab the remote and switch through the channels. He still liked doing it a lot because of the fact that he hadn't got to do it much in his childhood. It made him feel better about his life in general, and reminded him that he was doing much better.

"Then why did you stop ageing at 17?" Skye said, chin on his shoulder, gazing steadily at him. "Tell me if I go too far with the questions." She added quietly.

"I actually don't know why that happened. It's one of those questions that I didn't know the answer to. Although I'm sure Hermione is doing her best to find that out right now." He smiled slightly, and received a laugh back in reply.

"Why do I get the feeling that Hermione is one of those goody-two-shoes type?"

It was Harry's turn to snort loudly, and he recalled the Hermione from first year and how she had to reset her priorities for him in the following years.

"Oh she was anything but a goody-two-shoes after spending one year with Ron and me. We've ruined her for the rest of her life. I still don't know she keeps it going at the Ministry."

"She works in the Government?" Skye asked, surprised, and Harry realized too late that hadn't said that before. "I hate the government. All the systems and secrets and everything. I think Government agents are officially the creepiest."

He chuckled slightly before replying, "Yeah me too. I'm not a huge a fan of our Ministry either. It's mostly filled with lying arseholes who want to sit in a chair and get fat all day."

"Which is actually exactly what you do, if I remember correctly." Skye replied with a teasing grin and Harry looked at her in disbelief.

"I do not! Are you calling me fat?!"

Skye sat up from where she'd been leaning by his side and laughed loudly, exclaiming out a "Yes!"

Harry was about to dive in for a tickle fight, when his gaze shifted to the TV for a second as made to drop the remote on the table. Tony's face was on the screen, along with the video of a bombing. He didn't register the words until he heard Skye's soft gasp from beside him.

 _"Billionaire Tony Stark feared dead in terrorist bombing in Afghanistan"_

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 **I know it's kinda short - very short when compared to the last one, but I'll be breaking that up into two so it's easier. I hope you liked this one. Can't wait to hear back from y'all. I'm so excited! :D**


	8. A Pretty Bad Record

**I'm back! With a longer chapter and once again, apologize for the time gap, though as always, you'll understand that life got in the way. I am very nervous about this chapter since we've officially dug into Phase 1 and I finally got inspiration after Infinity War DESTROYED MY LIFE. I was in shock for days I swear to God. Anyway, I don't really know how I'm gonna do with this merging movie scenes thing, I think it's a weakness of mine. It's basically rewriting a scene from a movie and it's nerve wracking. Enough rambling though, go ahead and enjoy my loves!**

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 **Chapter 8: A Pretty Bad Record**

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 ** _Music Recommendation: Sick Boy by The Chainsmokers_**

* * *

It was a few hours until he could finally get to Pepper. Harry was sure that the only reason he hadn't immediately apparated to Afghanistan on instinct was that Skye was there with him. He had taken to stress cleaning for a few hours, and once his bedroom was put together, he had wanted to go down to the basement.

So he had reassured Skye that he would call her as soon as possible, and proceeded to drop her back to her hole of an apartment. She could barely afford it on the two jobs she was managing simultaneously, but it was better than nothing. Harry had offered her a place on his working staff in MM and even explained that he was actually very rich because of his family legacy. She hadn't believed him until he had produced a gold galleon for her as proof.

Skye had got the hint, and agreed to go back, cutting short the already limited time they had with each other because of her jobs and Harry's shop. That day however, she didn't complain and only kissed him firmly as goodbye.

He flicked through every news channel occasionally, but the claims did not change. Harry spent the night fitfully roaming the house, resetting everything, and had even started making Pepper's favorite custard tart, when his call finally connected in the early hours of the morning.

"Harry?" Pepper's voice sobbed, and his throat constricted tighter than ever - his stomach seemed to have fallen in on itself.

"Pepper? What's – Tell me he's not –"

"He's not, Harry. You should come by the office today. I can explain there, but it's better that you don't say anything to anyone about this yet." Pepper said in the same wavering voice, and Harry could see once again why she made such an excellent Secretary. She was obviously upset but knew that she had to work through all the fiasco going on.

"Of course, Pepper. Anything you want. What time should I come by?"

"Happy will pick you up. And Harry – I don't want to exploit our relation but could you bring something –?"

"I've already made a batch of those disgusting orange cookies you like, and a tart, but I think that might be inappropriate."

There was a soft watery chuckle at the other end, before Pepper replied, "Yes, I think it might be. Don't want people to get the wrong idea. Thank you, Harry. Thank you so much. You can't imagine what hell we're going to go through these few days."

"It's alright Pepper. I'm just glad he's alive. We'll talk tomorrow, okay? Try to get some sleep."

"I don't think that's possible, but yeah, see you later, Harry."

"Later."

Harry fell back on an armchair, sagged with relief, thoughts running miles away. Tony was alive but there was more. Harry couldn't guess what was going on for the life of him, so he decided to get back to cooking more things.

A few hours later found him loading boxes of food and a handful of cups of coffee in Happy's car. The man himself looked as sleep-deprived as Harry, and Harry was sure that he too, was worried beyond hell. Harry quietly offered him his coffee as soon as they met and waited for him to finish before they started for the office.

The front entrance of the building was swarming with hoards of reporters, cameramen, news vans, etc and the gates were being blocked by security personnel. It looked like people were just arriving and it was going to get worse as the day wore on. Happy drove him to a back entrance, from where they entered the building without many blockages. The people about seemed to know Happy and a few even helped to get the boxes to Pepper's office.

"Pepper. What's going on?" Harry said as soon as he caught sight of the woman. You could tell she was having a bad day even though there was not a hair out of place. You could see it in her red eyes, the twitch in her hands and the pen she kept flipping in her fingers, a trait she shared with Hermione.

"I'll explain Harry. But this is really confidential, so it's better to not mention it to anyone. Happy, get the door."

Happy stepped out and closed the door behind him. As soon as he did, Pepper seemed to melt into her chair, losing the calm and composed façade she had probably kept up for hours. Harry quickly walked over to her side, offering her a handkerchief as she tried to control her tears.

"Hey, hey it's alright. Don't worry Pepper we'll figure something out. Calm down." He rubbed her shoulders gently, while a distant feeling of panic started forming at the base of his gut. "Now, that's it. Have a sip of this, and tell me exactly what you know and what's going on, and I'll help you through it, okay?"

The red haired woman nodded and took a few deep breaths as Harry pulled a chair next to her. The office was very modern and small, and a little bit in chaos.

"He had a weapons presentation in Vegas yesterday and he talked to Obie right after that, before leaving for the airport. Then there was a bombing and Rhodey just got out, but they couldn't find Tony. Not even a body – so they're assuming that he's kidnapped or lost or something but oh Harry I think-"

"That's alright, Pep." Harry moved over to the woman to give her an awkward hug, but pulled back immediately. They couldn't afford Pepper Potts losing focus. So he started thinking, and fast.

"Pep, look at me. He's not dead."

Pepper blinked at him in shock, probably because of the confidence with which he said it, but he was sure of it – he didn't know why, but he had a gut feeling that if Tony was dead, he would know – he would have felt it, or something.

"How can you be so sure?" She asked, looking at him suspiciously. Harry rolled his eyes, but got up from his chair.

"It's a gut feeling. And my gut is never wrong. Never mind that now, the point is you need to do damage control. What do people know? What does the media know? How much do your employees know? You are going to be at the brunt of this now, until he's recovered or found or... well, yknow."

Pepper nodded understandingly and seemed to shift to business mode instantly, "Obie's in a meeting with the military to ask for help to look for him, and the PR office is working full time to get me a statement to give at noon. Rhodey's been looking for him with an air team for the past twelve something hours, but they're on their way back now, to assemble more teams."

"Good, that's very good. You don't need help in handling all of this, I'm sure but just remember, whenever you think this is getting too much or you need any kind of help – I'm one call away. If I don't pick, I assume you have Caramel's number, so just hit her up and please Pepper, don't ever hesitate even if you just need to talk to clear your head. Alright?"

The look she gave him was very tender, and it looked like she would cry again, "Yes, alright. Thank you so much Harry. I just really needed to hear all of that, you have no idea how badly. I mean I'm used to him pulling crazy stunts but this…"

"Oh come on Pep, don't blame this on him. And anyway, has there been a team on the bombing site yet? Do they know who did it or why? I mean I'm pretty sure Tony must have had some kind of enemies out there because of his… well, legacy."

"Yeah, Rhodey said everyone suspects terrorist involvement, but we haven't heard from anyone or anything so far. I can't imagine Tony-"

"He's fine, Pepper. Come on, get yourself together now, and drink your tea."

Happy opened the door to peek in, "Miss Potts, Colonel Rhodes is here to see you."

"Oh he's here! Send him in, please." Pepper quickly wiped off the last remains of her tears, as Harry decided this would be a good time to leave. Before he could move two steps though, a handsome dark man in a US Air Force uniform entered quietly, and removed his cap.

"Rhodey. Thank God you're here." Pepper exclaimed, and Harry stretched his hand towards the man, "Hi. I'm Harry Potter. I just came by to drop off some stuff for Pepper."

"Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes. Nice to meet ya, Harry. Are you the Harry from the coffee shop Tony kept talking about?" Rhodes said, shaking his hand firmly, and then moving over to give Pepper a short hug.

"Yeah he's the one Rhodes. How'd the meeting go?" Pepper said, offering them both chairs, although Harry refused to see how he was being useful any longer.

"Well, they approved Obie's request, and we have a fly off scheduled in two hours."

"Oh that's great! We should be off by 10 then, I should-"

"There's no 'we' Pepper. Both Obie and I think it's better for you to remain out of this."

"What? No! I should be out there looking for him! Harry back me up!"

And suddenly, Harry felt déjà vu creeping up on him as his memory flashed to Mrs. Weasley demanding backup from her husband during an argument. Currently, he was being regarded expectantly from both Pepper and Rhodey, but it was all too obvious who was right.

"I have to go with Colonel Rhodes on this one, Pepper. You need a man on the ground managing everything – If both you and Stayne leave, don't you think Stark Industries might fall into chaos? This is how it has to be – Obadiah's gonna be out looking for Tony for a long while now, and we all know you're the only one who can run this company till then. Hell, you've been doing it when Tony was present anyway, and the company needs you more than ever right now."

Rhodey gave him a subtle thumbs up under the table, as Pepper looked on with a resigned expression on her face.

"We all know that was all a load of crap you just said." She sighed, "But since you care enough to put it that way, I won't go. But I need live reports of everything and you need to update me every time Rhodey, I don't want to miss anything."

* * *

It went on for a long while. Harry came back to the shop, informed everyone of what was going on – not the details, just the same things everyone else knew. Work resumed, and life resumed, and a permanent feeling of hollowness and guilt took residence at the pit of Harry's stomach every time he looked at Tony's name in the newspaper or news. His trips to Stark Industries increased a lot in the following three months – not that Happy didn't sometimes show up at the café to chat. Pepper was always busy and had a total of only two mental breakdowns during the whole period, at least ones that Harry had to witness. He did his best to help her through everything, and it almost created a special bond between them.

Things with Skye seemed to be the highlight of his life – he was having such a great time with her. He still hadn't figured out what it was about her – that one unknown element he couldn't put his finger on. He had talked about it to her, and she had shocked him with the admission that she felt the same. That confirmed his theory that something extraordinary was going on with them, but for the life of him – he had never wanted to not solve a puzzle this much.

They went on dates, explored the city, dined out at fancy places, or ordered take out at home – they were comfortable with everything. Skye especially loved to hang out in his bedroom post-sex, saying she liked memorizing the faces of the people along with their names and listening to their crazy stories.

And that - scared him. The number of people Skye knew the names of from his history was increasing day by day and it was slowly unnerving him to the point of paranoia. He was taking such a huge risk with her – it was always on the surface of his mind that this was not something that would last. He couldn't tell her about magic – he just couldn't. That was a line he was not ready to cross with anyone yet. Sure, she knew almost everything else, the good parts, and that's how he would leave it for her.

It was a month later when he was unfortunately sitting beside her, watching her read, when he came to this realization.

"We can't see each other anymore."

"What? Why?" She half-chuckled, putting away her book.

"I think it's enough time we've spent with each other. Anymore and I might as well just –"

"Just what? Tell me everything? Take me back home with you?" Why was she not taking this seriously?

"Home? What do you think home is, huh? When will you see it – it isn't my home anymore! I can't go back! Ever!"

No. No. He needed to calm down. He couldn't start shouting or anything like that. This wasn't an argument. It was a decision he was taking regarding his life. And hers. They couldn't see each other and it was for everyone's benefit.

She was looking at him with a peculiar expression, like trying to figure him out – it was starting to irritate him.

"You need to leave. I cannot put it in a politer way."

"Okay, where is this coming from? What's making you give up so suddenly?"

"I'm not giving up, Skye. It's called cutting your losses – you should learn a thing or two about it too. Because we both know this isn't going anywhere. So the more time we spend with each other, the more I tell you, it's gonna ruin-"

"Ruin what, Harry?" She moved from the kitchen chair to stand next to him, pulling him in sweetly, and the next thing he knew, he was sitting on one of his own kitchen chairs.

"You." He whispered softly. He was going to ruin her by letting her near him. It was bound to happen, just like it was going to happen to Tony.

"You cannot ruin me, Harry. Look at me." She held up his face with her hands, and Harry closed his eyes as he remembered Sirius doing the same in fifth year. Oh, what he would give to have his Godfather by his side.

He was sure his eyes were a little misty when he opened them after taking a long breath, while Skye waited patiently for him to calm down. When he finally did, she was standing so close to him, he was itching to kiss her. And her eyes never ceased to impress him – how could anyone look so innocent and beautiful at the same time?

"I've never fit in anywhere. At the orphanage, at the foster homes, in work circles – nowhere. But when I'm here –" She punctuated it with settling herself in his lap, and wrapping a hand in his hair, "I feel like I belong."

He didn't think twice before grabbing her softly in a gentle kiss, and before he knew it, he was melting into the relief of her presence. It felt like his worries faded away for those few seconds and when he pulled back, she was smiling widely.

"So you can tell me whatever you want – you can try your best to ruin me, Harry Potter, but unless you tell me we're related, I'm here and you're stuck with me."

Harry felt his insides glow a little at her words, but that did not mean that his concerns were silenced forever. He found himself following Skye to the couch, where they both settled in cozily, before she turned to him again.

"Now tell me what's going on in your head and what brought this sudden onslaught of demented thoughts?"

"Oh, it's nothing-"

"It's not nothing if it's going to cause you to break up with me in the near future."

Harry sighed – he didn't know where to begin or what exactly to tell her.

"I'm scared. About Tony. It's been a month. There's no new information. Nothing."

"But didn't that Rhodey guy say no news is kinda good news in this department?"

"He did. But it feels like my fault because it's a pattern. The people I'm close to are bound to suffer because of me. I've lost too many people already and I don't think I can add another name to that list."

"Okay, way to be self involved baby, but unless you're holding Tony Stark in your basement, none of that is your fault. And look I know you're concerned, but you have to stop thinking like that, Harry. It's taking a toll on your mental health."

Harry scoffed slightly, "I think that scale exploded years ago."

"Tony's not dead. You told Pepper yourself that you have a gut feeling right? And you know they've proved right in the past. So just stop thinking so much about Tony and freaking out about losing him, just based on your past record."

"It's a pretty bad record."

"Can I know the candidates on that list or is that too far?"

Harry breathed deeply, and swept some hair from her face before kissing her forehead. "I think it's time to go too far." He noticed her eyebrows raise silently as she set her head on his chest, before he began counting.

When he finished his list, there was a hollow silence in which they were both breathing heavily, probably for different reasons. He wanted to chance a look at Skye's face, but he didn't know what he would see there.

He didn't have to wait though, because the next second she was looking up at him, her face red and her eyes a little wet, but still so full of love. What had he ever done to deserve her?

* * *

With July arrived another one of Teddy's letters, asking for permission to spend two weeks with Harry again this summer, and sounding excited to share all his adventures of his first year at Hogwarts. While Harry missed the boy terribly, he wasn't sure that it was such a good idea for him to live with Harry, what with Tony still being out there somewhere, kidnapped, and Skye busy with her jobs. Yes, Harry was selfishly thinking about his babysitting needs.

Anyhow, he decided that he did need to see his godson and it had indeed been too long since he had seen Andy as well, so he decided to take a trip back to catch up with them. It wasn't awkward discussing it with Skye – even though Caramel had said that she was hoping to get invited along. Instead, she was really sweet about it, and even offered to watch Pig while Harry was out.

Harry only stayed for three days, since anymore than that and someone would get suspicious. Andy, as usual, caught him up with everything happening in the life he had left behind. Hermione was happy, albeit a little overstressed about her job at The Department of Mysteries, something that made Harry nervous, since he was pretty sure what she was trying to accomplish there. Ron, Hermione and Kingsley now actively avoided talking about him, and everyone had slowly learned not to mention him in front of them - and Mrs. Weasley, who apparently thought he was dead.

Harry hadn't replied to Ron's letter, so he wasn't very surprised to hear that, although he was worried that Teddy seemed to be growing awfully close with Victorie Weasley, who he still talked about a lot. It was to be Vic's first year at Hogwarts and so Bill and Fleur wanted Andy and Teddy to accompany them. Harry was disappointed to hear that he wouldn't get to drop Teddy off, but he wasn't too keen to see Bill yet either.

Mr. Weasley was still happy with his old job at the office, George was investing all his time into the shop and Ron was busy as ever in the Auror Office, looking at a promotion soon if Mrs. Weasley was to be believed. Percy had been in the States long before Harry had shifted over, and now had a twelve year old squib daughter who was supposedly very gifted with numbers. Ginny had been playing officially with the Holyhead Harpies for about three years now – since 2007, and her first match had been after he'd left. That hadn't meant that Harry missed it. Andy however, didn't need to know that.

Neville and Luna were still teaching at Hogwarts, Seamus still worked at the Prophet, while Dean had went to London to live with his relatives for a while. Draco, Teddy had excitedly informed, was soon going to expand his hotel business overseas, specifically to America. Theo still claimed he worked at Gringotts, even though no one had ever seen him anywhere near it and any other question regarding his work went non-answered. Blaise Zabini was still teaching at Culver University, despite being offered multiple better jobs, and Harry was sure that this was still about his old colleague Banner disappearing off the face of the earth. It was like the man was determined to stick to the place for as long as possible.

Harry felt a distant voice tell him that he should go meet Percy and Blaise but the increasing numbers of lines on Andy's face stopped him from initiating contact. When he left this time, he made sure to remind Teddy that he couldn't say a word to him about anybody. Even Victorie.

* * *

"But would you even choose Robert DeNiro over… say Brad Pitt? Come on, don't lie to me!"

"Of course I would, Caramel. Have you not seen The Intern?"

"But he's so old Jon –"

"He's the Godfather!"

Harry's phone picked that opportune moment to start blaring loudly – it wasn't afternoon yet, so who was calling him? Harry put aside his paperwork in a hurry when he saw Pepper's name flashing on the screen. His stomach did the customary flop it did whenever Pepper called, or Happy showed up.

"Harry they've got him – he's dehydrated and hurt but he's on a plane and he's gonna be here in a few hours."

"Oh that's great!" A shock of relief went through him – he had never heard Pepper sound so happy about anything.

"Oh thank God, Harry. Thank God Rhodey was there on this sweep or this time too they would've returned early and empty handed. He's been wandering in the desert for God knows how long. Oh I have so much to do, I'll call you when we get to the hospital, alright? You can come meet him whenever you want."

"Of course, Pep. Hit me up if you need anything arranged before that or anything, okay? And calm down, it's all gonna be fine now."

"Thanks, Harry. I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Alright, take care and tell him I said Hi."

Harry joined the others at the counter with a huge smile, "Tony's back!"

There was a beat of shocked silence before everyone exclaimed happy sighs and started asking more questions about it. Jon put on some melody to go with the unrushed mood at the café for the day, and Harry set the television to a news channel, waiting for the news report of Tony's discovery, knowing that would be where he would get most of his information next.

* * *

Harry hadn't expected Tony to show up to the café immediately after returning. Well, he had expected a visit within a week at least. Soon, however, it was almost five days since the press conference fiasco, and Harry had been reluctant to call Pepper, knowing that she would have her hands full at a time like this.

Tony wanted to shut down the weapons manufacturing division of his company. Something told Harry that it was not an isolated decision – this was Tony Stark they were talking about. It was hard for people to understand his reasons behind actions sometimes, but Harry had found himself getting rather good at it. So he decided to take initiative and call Happy.

Happy informed him that Tony hadn't been out of the house since the press conference, having been told to lay low by Obie, and that Pepper was with him there right then, babysitting. Harry snorted and called up the secretary, and finally getting permission from her, started prepping food to take along with him to the mansion.

Two hours later, he was fully stuffed with brownies and had discussed the situation thoroughly with Pepper – and it didn't sound good. A suit of armor made of metal? Powered by an arc reactor – whatever that was, which was keeping a few pieces of shrapnel constantly moving towards Tony's heart?

It did explain Tony's rather reckless decision about the company – being kidnapped by terrorists and being forced to build weapons for them would probably change one's perspective on arms and artillery and who all actually deserved to have it. And if Tony wanted to keep his weapons out of the US Military's hands, or any hands in fact, it was completely his decision to make – and a rather wise one in Harry's opinion.

Harry was just discussing this with Pepper, with some stock show on in the background when suddenly Tony's voice cut through the ongoing verbal abuse of the stock show host.

"Pepper, how big are your hands?"

"What?" Pepper paused the video and connected to the call, Tony's face popping up on the screen.

"How big are your hands?"

"I don't understand why…" She trailed off, looking quizzically at Harry, who just shrugged and started back.

"Get down here, I need you." Tony said, and the call cut abruptly. Pepper sighed resignedly and got up, motioning for Harry to follow too, who didn't get up right away.

"Wait, are you sure he'd be comfortable with that?" He asked, and Pepper paused for a brief second before nodding quickly, "Yeah I'm pretty sure he won't mind you. Come on."

Harry followed her to a large staircase that headed to the basement, converted to a lab where Tony apparently spent all his free time tinkering and lurking in the company of machines. As they neared the landing, Harry tried to think back to the last time he had spoken to Tony and realized that it had been more than a few months since he had seen the man. In fact, all he could remember was him coming to say goodbye to Teddy last year at the end of August. It was bordering on a year since he had met Tony and it surprised him how much he still cared for the guy.

As they entered finally, Harry saw Tony reclining, shirtless, in one of those medical chairs, a few tubes and wires connecting him to some serious looking medical equipment. What the hell was the man doing?

"Hey, look what the cat dragged in – Harry Potter, my favorite baker." Tony said cheerily, grinning toothily at Harry, looking far too relaxed in the chair than a man back from months of captivity in a desert.

"Yes, your favorite baker, upon who you haven't betowed the honor of visiting even once since you came back from the proverbial dead." Harry admonished the dark haired man as he walked behind Pepper through the rather astonishingly large lab. Before Harry could take in his surroundings properly, he caught sight of Tony's chest. Tony's _glowing_ chest.

" _What the hell is that, Tony?_ "

"Oh my god, is that the thing that's keeping you alive?" Pepper exclaimed, looking carefully at the shining device – the arc reactor, Harry's brain supplied – in Tony's chest.

"It was." Tony answered, eyes on a heavily frowning Harry as he came to stand on Tony's other side. "It is now an antique. And Harry, my boy I've been busy trying to develop a better version of the reactor. _This_ is what will be keeping me alive for the forseeable future." Tony informed, holding up a shining reactor similar to the one in his chest.

"I'm going to swap this for this upgraded unit and I just ran into a speed bump, which is why I called you Pepper. So, show me your hands – you too, Harry."

"Speed bump? What does that mean?" Pepper asked a little worriedly, holding up her hands, and Harry held his up too. Pepper's hands were far smaller than his and thankfully so, since Harry wasn't so sure he should be near Tony with that electrical thing keeping him alive and Harry having the amazing talent of short circuiting such items accidently.

"Perfectly petite. Just what I need. You can shoo Harry, although you'd better stay here as backup, as long as you _don't touch anything._ "

Harry turned away from the bickering couple as Pepper asked Tony what exactly she needed to do, oddly reminded of Ron and Hermione during one of their arguments, as he let the noise become the background for his troubled thoughts, all the while indulging himself in a tour of the crowded lab.

Pepper was of a neutral opinion – she thought this was a phase, or PTSD or something – Tony would come to his senses soon and go back to being the bratty genius inventive scientist that he was and always had been. Harry, however, wasn't so sure about this as Tony had talked quite level headedly at the press conference and Harry had understood where he was coming from when he decided he would not leave a legacy of war and destruction to his name. In fact, he fully supported this decision – he didn't need any explanation from Tony to understand him this time. He would've done the same.

On the other hand, this new arc reactor technology was a bit of a disturbing development. If it was electricity based, he wasn't sure about how safe it was for him to be in the same room as Tony in case his magic caused a disturbance. But he had to do something to make sure…

No, taking the old reactor with him would be completely useless. He had no idea how normal electricity worked, so how the hell would he be able to figure this more advanced version? He would need outside help… perhaps Skye could - ?

He was distracted by the sound of loud laughter from the other end of the lab he had been walking through, and walked back in time to notice Pepper looking like she had regretted the last few minutes of her life severely, smiling nevertheless.

Harry cringed when he noticed that her hands were covered with pus, and turned the other way, when a picture on Tony's cluttered desktop caught his eye. Tony was standing with an older man that looked rather familiar to Harry.

"Hey I know this guy." He moved and picked the picture up, examining it closely. The man bore a slight resemblance to Tony, and Harry guessed that it might be –

"Pfft. Obviously. It's me Harry, just a bit younger."

Harry turned to look at him, exasperated, "I know, you dimwit. I meant the other guy. Is that your Dad?"

"Yeah." Tony replied confusedly, getting up from the recliner, and picking up a towel to wipe his abdomen.

"I feel like I've seen him before. Somewhere old, in a picture or something… It has something to do with my Dad's stuff. I have definitely seen him though. I'm hundred percent sure, Tony." Harry frowned at Tony, who looked back at him with an equally confused expression, and he turned his gaze back to the picture, wracking his brains to come up with the answer.

"Alright. Whatever." Tony shrugged suddenly, and turned away back to Pepper, who had been washing her hands but was listening to them too. "Take it with you, maybe staring at it longer will jump start your memory. I was gonna throw it anyway."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that, and Tony just replied with a casual "We weren't close."

"Don't mind if I do then." Harry muttered to himself, confused and a little freaked out.

"What do you want me to do with this?" Pepper asked Tony, holding up the old reactor she had pulled from Tony's chest a few minutes ago.

"I dunno. Destroy it. Incinerate it. I don't care."

"You don't want to keep it?" Pepper sounded surprised at that, and Tony rolled his eyes to Harry, not expecting her to expect him to be attached to the thing. "Pepper, I've been called many things. Nostalgic is not one of them."

Harry snorted at that, but quickly covered up. He would have to come up with an excuse to get the reactor from Pepper later, just to examine it, but more urgently, he needed to go home and sort through his stuff from Gringotts to find out why the hell Howard Stark looked familiar to him.

"That's my cue to leave guys. I gotta be back at the shop soon – hopefully they haven't accidently let Pig out or something."

"What is the deal with that bird of yours? What exactly is his use?" Tony asked, pulling the picture out of the frame and handing it to Harry, who pocketed it carefully.

"I don't know, Stark. What exactly is your use?"

It was Pepper's turn to chuckle lightly as Harry began walking towards the exit of the lab. "Don't be a stranger, Pep. You too Tony, feel free to drop by and show Caramel your not so dead face."

"Geez, no need to sound so happy about it Potter!" Tony shouted sarcastically to Harry's receding monotone voice. Harry didn't bother to reply as he was almost out of the lab when heard the next bit of conversation, just as he shut the lab door, smiling.

"By the way, don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again."

"I don't have anyone but you."

* * *

 **And there we go! What do you think's happening around here? Theories? God I love when you people theorize and it's right on the point! Also a question - do any of you actually check out the songs I recommend or is that just useless and I should stop putting that on? I choose songs that relate to the chapter by the way, but still, please let me know! I'm so excited I'm dying! Review! Review! Review!**


	9. Trouble Usually Finds Me

**Chapter 9: Trouble Usually Finds Me**

* * *

 _ **Music Recommendation: Cat's In The Cradle**_

* * *

" _I don't go looking for trouble, trouble usually finds me._ " He remembered insisting vehemently to Mrs. Weasley, in front of the train, and the flashbacks of the year Sirius had actively stalked him threatened to make his eyes well. Walking through a sparsely lit corridor on the top floors of the Stark Industries building, accompanied by his Skye, the girlfriend who was completely innocent and who he was still dragging into this mess he was creating voluntarily, Harry belatedly thought how he was presenting a mind blowing contradiction to his own words. This was also why they had always stuck to letting Hermione plan everything – because he himself was absolute fucking shit at it.

Pepper had finally ambled around MM after things had calmed down, and Harry had grabbed the opportunity to off handedly ask her about the arc reactor, thankfully in front of Skye, who just like he had suspected, expressed interest in seeing the new technology for herself. If Pepper had any hesitance over the subject, it was quelled when Harry casually chimed in that he would like to see it for himself too, and maybe understand technology for the first time in his life. That part had been easy enough.

The difficult part was the one they were approaching now – specifically, what the hell he was supposed to do once inside and how to make sure that the reactor was magic resistant, in the presence of two incredibly sharp woman, neither of who knew anything about magic. Needless to say, in the four years Harry had left his old life behind, that was the precise moment he regretted it completely because he would've given an arm right then to have Hermione by his side, planning and whispering instructions in his ear. It was absolutely selfish of him but he missed her so damn much it was like a physical ache right in the middle of his chest every time he let himself think about it.

Before he's aware of it, they'd entered Pepper's office and he silently looked around at the space where frankly nothing had changed at all, except it was a bit less messy compared to the last time he'd visited. Skye was fixated on a model of something sitting near the door, and Pepper stopped by her to explain something to her, Harry hadn't been paying attention to anything for the past five minutes so he had no idea what it is. He only had eyes for the reactor which was sitting like a piece of decoration on Pepper's table.

His thoughts were too loud in his head, and he's overcome with a sudden rush of adrenaline. Since he's winging the entire thing anyway, albeit like a complete fool, he grabbed the glass box off the table, took out the round bulb like thing inside and moved towards the window, in the light, to examine it better. It's no use though, because he couldn't make sense of it – where did the current come from? If it's a magnet, didn't it need a source of electricity to keep it functioning? Wasn't that how it's supposed to work? The only person who had a chance of explaining it to him was Skye, but he couldn't exactly wait for her to test his magic on it, now could he?

Another quick glance at the ladies showed that they were still busy and in a burst of creativity (or stupidity as he would realize later) he consciously pushed a single strand of his magic into the pulsing interior, and just as he had expected, there's a split second of a spark, and the thing in his hand was not glowing anymore.

Panic threatened to engulf him at the sight, and a short turn of head revealed that Pepper and Skye were laughing loudly as Pepper was about to leave the room – _Oh no, oh shit, no_ – and Skye was about to walk towards towards him.

Refusing to go numb with indecisiveness - he was pretty sure it's the panic that spurred him into action – without giving it much thought, Harry willfully pushed a small burst of his raw magic into the reactor, purely by instinct. Much to his surprise and light headed relief, the reactor jumped back to looking – he would go as far as saying working - as it was before, the emanating light a noticably lighter shade of blue.

By the time Skye laid a hand on his shoulder and he turned to her, his breathing was a little out of sorts, but other than that he was perfectly sure he didn't look like he'd been doing anything suspicious. Looking at Skye acted almost like a slap to the face, bringing him out of whatever headspace he had been in, his surroundings suddenly coming back into focus.

"Babe, are you okay?" he looks at Skye's worried expression, and she wiped sweat he didnt know was there off his forehead with a quizzical expression on her face.

"Are you coming down with something, Harry?" He's pretty sure he's not, but the very real concern on her innocent face had him cursing himself for the immensely stupid thing he had been about to do. Get her dragged in all of his shit, without her even knowing about it. And he knew it was probably even more selfish than missing Hermione, but he decided he'd rather have her far away from Stark Industries and anything that could endanger her, than let her sate her curiosity about the newest piece of technology.

"Actually yeah, I don't know why I got out of bed this morning. I really don't feel upto this." He makes a show of massaging his forehead, and sitting in one of Pepper's chairs, Skye following his movement, and calling Happy at the same time.

"You do feel a little hot. Don't worry about this - let's just go home. I'm sure Happy won't mind giving us a ride."

It took Harry the ride home to figure out that going through his old things to look for the photo of Tony' father was also probably not a good idea for him, something he had been putting off till now. For one, he already seemed to be in over his head where Tony was concerned. And even though Skye had handled him surprisingly well till now, with not many mental breakdowns over the past, he owed it to her to not actively go looking for trouble by approaching those particular memories. Secondly, Tony wasn't even close to his Dad, so it didn't matter what he would find anyway. So instead of going down that road, Harry continued his sweetly mundane existence as a Los Angeles coffee shop owner, whose current problem was figuring out a way to understand the arc-reactor technology so that he didn't accidentally short circuit the device and kill his billionaire friend. Okay, so semi-mundane existence.

Beside the clusterfuck of a situation he had almost created in Pepper's office, Harry decided to keep his impulses to do crazy shit to a minimum, mostly for Skye, who he was still pretty sure he had done nothing to deserve.

* * *

Tony Stark liked to pretend he didn't care much about public opinion or what others thought of him. For the most part, it was true. The problem arose when the people whose opinion he cared about refused to understand him. Well, not refused, but just proved incapable, probably because of his own communication issues. He knew Pepper and Obi had his best interests at heart, but it still didn't hurt any less when they acted so oblivious and confused about his decision to shut down the weapons manufacturing unit. He had just hoped that they knew and understood him better than that.

Obi was a businessman so it somewhat made sense that he wasn't in favor of this because of the repercussions it had on the company and the stock and whatnot. He, however, didn't understand that Stark Industries had the potential to be more than that – he believed he could take his company to the top and further without leaving a legacy of bloodshed behind him. How hard was that to understand, really? He was a genius after all. Obi was at least better than Rhodey, who simply thought he was going out of his mind and was gonna realize his mistake and start production for the military back up.

Pepper, on the other hand, he didn't really get. It was worse because somewhere at the back of his mind he had expected her to react better than she did – treating him like he was a brat throwing a tantrum instead of an adult making a conscious decision about his company's future. She was the one who knew him better than anyone else – the best even. It was disappointing and nerve wracking as hell.

Happy didn't even pretend to understand what was going on with him, but he at least accepted Tony's frustration about the others' reaction. So after Obi informed him of the board's decision to lock him out, his mind kept rewinding everyone's doubts even while he worked. Usually when he was working with his hands his mind was oddly clear but now he couldn't get past the voices stuck on a loop in his head. Sitting in his lab holding an ice pack to his head, about a week into the putting together Mark II, he decided he needed a change of scenery – a fresher environment.

A few minutes later, he was pushing the door open to the inconspicuous little shop, the black haired too-young-to-be-the-owner looking up at the ding, and stopping in his actions out of surprise. As Tony saw Harry's face light up with a pleased smile, that he tried hard to hide, he wondered why he hadn't visited sooner. The sight of the man put something in his mind at ease. Maybe it was the familiarity of the place, or the faces untouched by judgment over his recent life decisions, but Tony found himself relaxing considerably as he walked towards the counter, amidst greetings from Harry's definitely underage staff.

The pretty girl, whose name he had forgotten, was at the counter, smiling widely at him – "Hello Mr. Stark! Nice to see you after so long!" He smiled toothily at her, while Harry came up beside her, raising an eyebrow. "Is this one of the rare happy days of my life when you're actually in here for coffee?" The man was unrepentant – he wasn't even pretending to be happy to see him.

"Yes and no." Tony replied, pushing his cap off his head, he had only worn it to avoid any looks when he entered and he wasn't planning on sitting in the open anyway.

"What the fuck Tony?" Harry said, moving near him to peer at the small wound on his forehead, something he had conveniently forgotten about.

"Calm down, Potter - I've been working in the lab and there's some heavy shit involved and an incident took place. It happens all the time and that's half the reason I'm here so _get me some caffeine_." He directed the end of his sentence to the girl, who nodded and shouted, "Clark! Get out here with your specials!"

The blonde guy, the one who wasn't the brother, came out of the kitchen, apron on and covered in flour, streaks of white coating his hair. Tony noticed Harry was mirroring his look – he had probably interrupted a serious baking batch.

"I'm busy with the- Oh hey Mr. Stark! Heard you were back. How was Afghanistan?"

Tony snorted at the scandalized look on Harry's and the girl's face, grinning when the girl smacked the blonde over the head with a handy newspaper. _Christ_ , he'd forgot how rude, blunt and just entertaining this bunch had been.

"It was hot pal. Food was terrible and the return flight – God, I had to reschedule so many times. The natives were a bunch of assholes too."

He'd assumed it was common knowledge that he'd been kidnapped, and he was right – the next second all four of them dissolved into a fit of giggles. That was, until the dark skinned guy bustled over from the among the customers, only pausing briefly on seeing him.

"Mr. Stark. Heard you were alive, man. Welcome back. You look like you're in need for a Suck My Balls."

 _Whoa – wait, what?_

The guy just walked back into the kitchen without stopping and Tony was trying to make sense of what he had just heard but the three idiots in front of him had just started laughing again.

"Your face!" The blonde, Clark, wheezed unhelpfully, balancing himself on the counter. Harry calmed down the quickest, "It's a new drink Jade came up with. It has lots of caffeine and there are these cocoa balls in the base, hence the name."

"That's- that's, y'know what? That's too much for me. That's too much coffee. Too much _insane_."

"There's no such thing as too much coffee." The little brother finally showed up, also covered in some questionable substances, probably icing. "Glad to see you back from the dead, Mr. Stark."

"You do know I was kidnapped, not actually killed?" He asked, finally pulling a stool at the counter as the girl went back to whatever she did when not processing orders. Harry made a round into the kitchen to shed his apron and came out with a cleaner towel and face.

"Why do you look like a zombie then?"

"Hey I might not be on my A-game but that's just because I've been working mechanics the past few days."

"So you're spiraling." Harry quirks an infuriating eyebrow, and Tony is honestly _appalled_ at that implication -

"Pepper says you do that when you're escaping shit and it's your coping mechanism."

"He's not spiraling he's just depressed. Which is completely normal since the man got kidnapped in a fucking desert for three months." The dark skinned guy, Jade (he was positive) came out of the kitchen, and settled beside Tony, facing the other side, probably keeping a lookout for new customers.

" _I am not_." Tony insisted, but nobody even bothered to _look_ at him.

"Coffee cures depression." The brother quipped, hopping off the counter he'd been sitting cross legged on. " _No it doesn't!_ " Tony sputtered, what in the name of bullshit-

"Sure it does." Jade said sagely, " _More espresso less depresso._ "

Tony could only blink at him, his brain feeling slightly numb from all the… in all honestly, he didn't even have a word for it. Harry and Clark, however, had collapsed into another fit of laughter and God, these people were so easy to... laugh. He wanted to think less of them for it, but he just wished he himself was in such a light state of mind.

"That was the worst thing I've ever heard." He deadpanned, but he had spoken too soon. The brother, the fucking sixteen year old kid, came out of the kitchen, carrying a large cup with a straw sticking out of it and handed the drink to Tony.

Grinning, he announced, " _Suck My Balls._ "

* * *

After hanging around with the, well kids, for about an hour, Tony felt relaxed and calmed somewhat back to his old self. He was never one for serious conversations and preferred if they could be avoided completely – so when Harry asked him to come to the kitchen to put an icepack over his head, he hesitated for a second, but his head had started to hurt a little again.

The kitchen was exactly like he had imagined – lots of shelves, equipment, ovens, dough, semi liquids and no place to sit. Harry led him to the back storage where he grabbed an ice pack out of a huge freezer unit and placed it on his head, dragging two heavy storage boxes for them to sit on.

"So what's going on?" He looked at Harry as the man questioned him bluntly, surprised he had picked up on anything unusual.

"Come on. You're never here unless you want something and it's been clear ever since you arrived that something's bothering you and you're just itching to get it out. Come on, Stark, spill."

Was he that out of sorts that he couldn't hide that something was bothering him or was it just that Harry knew him too well? Tony wanted to say something funny, ease the tension, but he was decided he was too tired to care to keep up the pretence. He decided to get straight to the point.

"I want to know what you think of my decision – to stop manufacturing weapons."

"What? I'm not a businessman Tony, how can I give any advice-" Harry started after a few seconds of shocked silence, like he had honestly not expected that.

" _Not advice_ , Potter. Your opinion. Just your goddamn opinion." He bit out. Closing his eyes and let the cool spreading from the ice calm his brain. "Pepper thinks I'm being a brat. Rhodey thinks I'm having a mental episode, a phase. Obi thinks it's bad for the future of the company. The board of directors filed an injunction and locked me out, claiming PTSD. And I think Obi agrees with them - he's not ready to believe I can turn SI into something other than a weapons selling organization."

He opened his eyes and looked straight at Harry. "I don't want to leave behind a legacy of bloodshed where _my_ creativity, _my_ talent, _my genius_ is used to hurt and kill innocents."

"And Afghanistan made you change your mind because you saw what you were doing to the world up close." Harry supplied back, catching his train of thought quite easily. He nodded furtively.

"Shutting down those units is me growing up – me taking responsibility for my actions and the effect they have on the world. And I don't want my actions to cause – my legacy, _to be thousands of dead bodies_. How is that so hard to understand?"

"It's not. I get it, Tony."

"See, even you get it. What the fuck is the problem with the rest of the world?"

He squinted at Harry with one eye, who was looking at him with a… different expression on his face – he couldn't quite place it. But they sat like that for a few minutes, eventually relaxing their backs to the wall. Harry still looked deep in thought when he finally looked at him and started talking again.

"When I was in 5th year –"

He stopped, seemingly reassessed what he was about to say, then sighed. "Look Tony, you're one of the most irritating people I know but you have your heart in the right place. I think there are just some times in your life you have to go through alone because you know you're right, even though other people don't see it your way. Deep inside, you know it's the right thing to so just – do it. Don't worry about the people in your life, they'll come around."

"But they've always been there for me, and every one of them thinks it's wrong. How am I supposed to go around that?" His voice sounded desperate even to his own ears, but he was. _God_ , he was.

"For the record, I support your decision wholeheartedly, I think it's pretty brave of you to do that. And secondly, you _don't_ go around it. You persevere through it and resist the urge to tell them 'told you so' at the end. Trust me, I'd know." Harry gave a hollow little laugh that made something move in Tony's chest – he had never heard Harry sound so bitter about anything.

"How do you know?"

Harry's smile turned even more twisted than the horrible laugh. Tony hated the expression on Harry's face – it looked pained beyond anything and was making something dangerous snap inside him.

"Oh just, yknow. I had this thing in my 5th year – something happened over the summer and not many people believed me. Most of my friends, classmates, teachers every person I knew was suddenly against me because they thought I'd spread some nasty rumor to get attention." He laughed that stupid laugh again. "Even my friends' brother, who I was pretty cool with till then; even my dorm mates. It was pretty stupid. But yeah the whole school was against me, even though I had my two closest friends with me. It was a nightmare that whole year."

Then he looked at Tony again, almost like blinking out of a stupor, "The point is – there are times in our life we need to stick with our decisions no matter how unpleasant the consequences are, simply because we know what is right. I could've caved and said it was a rumor, it would be the easier choice. But I knew what was right and I stuck to it, no matter how many people hated me or judged me for it. I think you need to do the same."

"It's not that easy –"

"If you say it's because you have nobody in your corner I will fucking punch you in the face. I just relived the worst year of my school time for you, Stark, you better fucking grow a pair and stick to your goddamn decisions."

Tony could only shake his head and snort at the over dramatic dip shit Harry was being, "Yeah alright I got your point. How bad could it've been though?"

It was Harry's turn to snort, and he paused for second before getting up from his seat and shoving his left hand in Tony's face.

"What am I-" And then he saw it. Pale scars on the top of Harry's left hand, something in writing…

" _What the fuck_ , Potter? ' _I must not tell lies_ ' Seriously? What kind of – _Who the fuck_ -"

"We had this sadistic toad of a teacher. She loved cats and pink and torturing me."

There was a moment of silence as Tony started at the words again.

" _God_ you Brits are fucked up, is that even legal?!"

* * *

' _Tony doesn't know how to say thanks._ ' Harry keeps repeating to himself over the next few days when there is complete silence from Tony, Pepper and Happy. Things had seemed normal after their rather unpleasant conversation in the kitchen, even though Tony had remained surprisingly tight-lipped when Harry had asked about the mechanical project he insisted he was working on. Tony had spent three more hours sitting in the kitchen, with his Starkphone and a notepad, scribbling furiously and doing calculations, inhaling coffee at an alarming rate. Everything was always on the house since Tony tipped too much ever single time – two hundred dollars too much.

The man had suddenly rushed out of the place without preamble, muttering to himself and too engrossed in whatever he was doing to even say bye or pay or look at anyone on the way out. It was weird to see Tony 'in the zone', as it had been referred to by Teddy for when Harry started talking about breads.

Honestly, Harry should have expected something wrong to happen when Tony was so passionately secretive about something. And sure enough, a few days later, Colonel Rhodes was on some news channel saying something about a training exercise gone wrong, which Harry had now understood was convenient code for 'some classified bullshit went down but we can't tell you what'. And as the accompanying images were displayed, a gold and red metal man thing stuck to the underside of a fighter jet, Harry's stomach did a thing.

It was like a sixth sense, a signal, a deep bond or connection – he stopped in his tracks, staring at the picture on the screen, his gut was screaming at him – _Tony did something stupid._

There were still no calls, and even though he was ninety nine percent sure, somehow, that that was Tony Stark, he gave the man the benefit of the doubt. Surely, he wasn't that stupid. And surely, even if he was that stupid, Pepper or Happy would call him and complain or _something_. But nobody called and somehow Harry resisted the urge to get in touch himself, and let it go from his mind, even though his gut told him otherwise and the images stayed in his mind the full day.

That was, until the very next day when Pepper showed up bright and early, smiling a nervous smile as soon as she spotted Harry. "Hey Pepper. How are you?"

"I'm good Harry. I'm sorry he came over and –"

"Oh shut it, Pepper you know I don't mind as long as he doesn't steal my bike or something. Have a seat, I'll just tell Jon to get your usual ready."

Harry disappeared through the kitchen to inform Jon of the order and joined Pepper back on the counter, where she was sitting, looking more unsettled than he'd ever seen her. He had a flash to a few days back when Tony had been sitting in the same chair, looking for distractions and advice.

"What's bothering you?" He asked directly, and Pepper looked startled for a moment, opening her mouth to protest, before thinking better of it and giving in, still looking unsure.

"Harry I just didn't come for coffee today." Pepper said slowly, looking even more nervous than before, rubbing her fingers together a little. Harry tried to look less intimidated by the fact that apparently he was the Stark Industries official therapist now, and it made him want to laugh hysterically. He was so not qualified for this. Or paid enough. Or wise enough too, to be fair. He still nodded for her to go on.

"Tony asked me for a favor. And it's illegal."

Well, that wasn't very surprising. "Is it sexual in nature or work related?"

He got a slap on the arm for that, although he was not completely joking, and Pepper seemed to understand that. "Work related." She replied hesitantly, but then started ranting a little, "But you know how he's been Harry. Shutting down the operations and he's cooped up in his lab making I don't know what and now he has these theories in his mind and I saw him the other day. Oh God, I think he's going mad, Harry and he won't let us help-"

"Pepper – calm down, please. Breathe. Come on, listen to me. He's right about the company. I know you think it's some phase or something but trust me, I think I know what he's doing – even though it might look like he doesn't. He is a genius after all. And as to the theories, well that's just about how much you really trust him. Do you? Trust him?"

"Yeah. Yeah, at the end of the day, I think I do." She said slowly, and Jon picked that moment to appear with her drink, which Pepper grabbed with relief and gulped a little hurriedly, managing to look graceful while doing it.

"Alright now. Keep calm, Pep. You got this. Don't panic, everything will be fine. And if you think-" He got out from behind the counter to stand by her side as she fished for change, continuing in a low volume, "If you think something's going too sideways, or is too fishy, call me immediately. Immediately, got it?"

He made sure she understood what he was saying without actually saying much. He wasn't sure why he did it, but the feeling in his gut was still there – Tony was doing something stupid. It was like a constant goddamn siren.

* * *

In hindsight, Harry thinks he never should've moved to America. His main purpose, his main motive behind the move to the States had been anonymity – he had been tired of life as Harry Potter, the fucking prodigy, that he had needed time to be just Harry. And he had got it. He had spent almost five blissfully irresponsible years playing house with a pretty girlfriend, a normal house, a business he owned and loved, friends who were semi-sane, but he should've known. _He should've known_ – he should've remembered his own luck, and how dumbly not in his favor it always was.

Turns out, Pepper did need to call him that day, although he hadn't realized it would be that big of an issue. It was evening and though the rush hour was over, they were still full and busy. Harry didn't pick his phone as soon as it rang but when he saw it was Pepper, he quickly wiped his hands and picked the call. Pepper was shouting on the other side and he could only register the worry in her voice before his stomach started knotting already, she was talking so fast and the voices in the background were mixing over.

" _Harry I need you to go to the house right now. Obadiah, he's been working with – sending my guy over now – to kill Tony, Harrry! I don't think we have much time, you need to get there right now and help – Miss Potts I've sent one of my –"_

"Whoa Pepper! Slow down, _kill Tony?_ What do you mean? And Stayne's been working with who?"

" _-Don't have time Harry! Stayne went rogue he ordered the kidnapping and he's been dealing under the table –_ "

Harry didn't need to hear the rest before his stomach felt like it had completely fallen out of his body. In the next second he was pulling off his apron, grabbing his keys off the rack and sprinting upto his office, phone jammed to his ear. _Dammit_ , this is why he should keep his wand on him at all times, no matter what, no matter how long it's been.

"Alright. Pepper I'm leaving. Don't worry I'll be there in five. Don't worry, alright? He's going to be fine, just fine."

" _Oh thank you Harry, I was going to call Rhodey but youre closer –_ "

"Stayne was the one who got him kidnapped? Why? And how?"

 _"I don't understand anything right now, Harry. I just know that he knows I copied some information off his computer a few minutes ago and he wants the arc reactor – he's bothered Tony about it before. God, how did I not see-"_

 _Shit_.

"Don't worry Pep, just calm down, stay with security, Tony's gonna be fine. I'm leaving now."

He stuffed the phone in a pocket and started his bike, watching Jade who had been running after him with a concerned look. "Lock up and don't wait for me!" Harry shouted at him, deciding that explaining was not worth the time, especially if Stayne was on his way to the mansion. He could only hope he reached before anything serious happened. If Tony was hurt in any way-

 _No._ He couldn't think about that. He had to focus. About seven minutes of agonizing driving later he was braking in the driveway. There was another black car parked there, but as far as he could remember that was not what Obadiah drove. He studied the inside for a second, finding it empty, but before he could turn, he heard that voice. Just the _right_ amount of familiarity and incredulousness laced the voice as his name was uttered, and that was when Harry knew he was fucked.

" _Potter?! Harry? Harry Potter?!_ "

* * *

 **What do we think of the new developments? I'm gonna breeze through IM2 and then we're gonna have an interlude for tying in the Steve Rogers element before diving into Avengers. There's quite a bit of work to be done there, so tell me should that be in a seperate sequel type fic or should I just put those one or two chapters in this one? Saves the trouble of looking for another fic, but for people who're not interested in reading Steve interacting with the... well, wizarding world, it would be better to keep it seperate. Gimme your opinions! Quick! Hope y'all enjoyed!**


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